St Mary's Church is a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

, Lancashire, England. It is the first Catholic Church in Morecambe to be built after the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

. It is located on the corner of Lord Street and Matthias Street in the centre of the town. It was built in 1895 and designed by

Pugin & Pugin Pugin & Pugin (Floruit, fl. c.1873–c.1958) was a London-based family firm of Church architecture, church architects. History The origins of the Pugin & Pugin firm lay with the practice of Edward Welby Pugin (1834–1875); he had worked in the ...

in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

History

Construction

On 21 April 1895 the foundation stone of the church was laid by the

Bishop of Liverpool The Bishop of Liverpool is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Liverpool in the Province of York.''Crockford's Clerical Directory'', 100th edition, (2007), Church House Publishing. . The diocese stretches from Southport in the n ...

Thomas Whiteside. The architects were

, an architectural firm that composed of

Cuthbert Welby Pugin Cuthbert Welby Pugin (2 June 1840 – 25 March 1928) was an English architect, furniture builder and businessman working in the gothic revival style. Life and career He was the son of Augustus Pugin and his second wife, Louisa Burton, making hi ...

and

Peter Paul Pugin Peter Paul Pugin (1851 – March 1904) was an English architect. He was the son of Augustus Pugin by his third wife, Jane Knill, and the half-brother of architect and designer Edward Welby Pugin. Life and career Peter Paul Pugin was only a ...

, brothers of E. W. Pugin and sons of

Augustus Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 1812 – 14 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival architecture ...

. They built the church in the

with a capacity of 300 people. The construction was done by the contractor Charles Walker of Preston and the cost was £3,000.

Developments

In the 20th century, with the growing population in Morecambe, St Mary's Church was no longer large enough to accommodate the growing local Catholic

congregation Congregation may refer to: Religion *Church (congregation), a religious organization that meets in a particular location *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administrative body of the Catholic Church *Religious congregation, a type of religious instit ...

. So from St Mary's, new churches were built. These churches were St Patrick's Church on St John's Road in

Heysham Heysham ( ) is a coastal village in the Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, overlooking Morecambe Bay. It is a ferry port, with services to the Isle of Man and Ireland, and the site of two nuclear power stations. History Of historic ...

in the 1920s, the Good Shepherd Church, which moved into a former

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

chapel in

Torrisholme Torrisholme is a suburb of Morecambe, Lancashire, on the North West coast of England. In the 2001 census, the Torrisholme Ward had a population of 6,758 living in 3,118 households, decreasing marginally to 6,755 at the 2011 Census. Torrisholme ...

in 1962, and Holy Family Church in Westgate in 1979.

Parish

St Mary's Church, with St Patricks Church, the Good Shepherd Church and the Holy Family Church comprise the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of St John Henry Newman in Morecambe. St Mary's Church has two Sunday Masses at 8:30am and 10:30am. St Patrick's Church has two Sunday Masses at 6:00pm on Saturday and at 6:30pm on Sunday in Polish.Parishes
from

Diocese of Lancaster The Diocese of Lancaster () is a Latin Church Roman Catholic diocese centred on Lancaster Cathedral in the city of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. History The diocese was erected in 1924, taking areas and parishes from the Archdiocese of Liv ...

, retrieved 3 February 2022

References

External links