St Mary's Church or St Mary's the Mount Church is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

, West Midlands, England. It was built from 1825 to 1827 and designed by

Joseph Ireland Joseph Ireland (1841) was an English architect who designed Roman Catholic Church buildings in the early nineteenth century. He specialized in Romanesque revival architecture and worked with Joseph John Scoles. Life Ireland was born into a Catho ...

in the

Neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

. It is located between Glebe Street and Vicarage Place, backing on to Vicarage Walk in the centre of the town. Since 2012, it has been served by the

Vocationist Fathers The Society of Divine Vocations () abbreviated S.D.V., also commonly known as the Vocationists, is a Catholic Church, Catholic clerical religious congregation founded by Fr Giustino Russolillo in 1920. See also * St Winefride's Church, Holywel ...

and it is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Foundation

In 1794,

Oscott College St Mary's College in New Oscott, Birmingham, sometimes called Oscott College, is the Roman Catholic seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham in England and one of two seminaries of the Catholic Church in England and Wales in England, with Allen ...

was founded in

Old Oscott Old Oscott (originally Oscott) is an area of Great Barr, Birmingham, England (previously in the parish of Handsworth, Staffordshire). The suburb forms a triangle bounded to the north by Pheasey, to the west by Perry Beeches, and to the east ...

. From Oscott a

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

was started in

. In 1807, Fr Francis Martyn began serving the Walsall mission. He was the first Catholic priest since the

English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...

to have his entire training done in England. With the local Catholic population growing a larger space was needed to accommodate the increasing

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 ...

. On 19 December 1819, Assembly Rooms at the Green Dragon Inn were hired as a place to celebrate a

Catholic Mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass "the same Christ ...

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

Walsall - St Mary
''Taking Stock'', retrieved 6 June 2022

Construction

With the population still increasing, a larger permanent church needed to be built. On 16 August 1825, the foundation stone of the present church was laid. The church was designed by

who also designed St Peter and St Paul's Church, Wolverhampton. On 10 May 1827, the church was opened. In 1833, the presbytery next to the church was built.A P Baggs, G C Baugh, C R J Currie and Johnson D A, 'Walsall: Roman Catholicism', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 17, Offlow Hundred (Part), ed. M W Greenslade (London, 1976), pp. 239-241. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol17/pp239-241, retrieved 6 June 2022

Developments

In 1872, an

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

made of

Carrara marble Carrara marble, or Luna marble (''marmor lunense'') to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara ...

was installed in the church. In 1879, the church was renovated. In 1887, new

altar rail The altar rail (also known as a communion rail or chancel rail) is a low barrier, sometimes ornate and usually made of stone, wood or metal in some combination, delimiting the chancel or the sanctuary and altar in a church, from the nave and ot ...

s were added. In 1897, a new

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

was bought for the church. In 1909, stained glasses windows made by Hardman & Co. was installed in the church. Some of the reordering of the church done in the 1960s was undone in the 1970s, by the priest Fr Peter Taylor. On 31 July 1986, the church building was given Grade II* listed status.Church of St Mary and attached presbytery
''British Listed Buildings'', retrieved 6 June 2022

Parish

From St Mary's Church, other

s were started to serve other parts of Walsall. Some of those missions grew and became churches and

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 ...

es in their own right. In 1856, the mission on the corner of Blue Lane and Green Lane became St Patrick's Church. A new church was built there in 1967. From 1958 to 1960, St Thomas of Canterbury Church was built in

Coal Pool Coal Pool is a housing estate in Walsall, West Midlands, England. Most of the homes in area were built by the local council during the 1930s, with a smaller development taking place in the late 1940s which marked the resumption of council house ...

. In 2012, the

came to serve the

of St Mary's Church and also serve St Thomas of Canterbury Church and St Patrick's Church. St Mary's Church has three Sunday Masses at 5:30pm on Saturday and at 9:00am and 11:00am on Sunday. Both St Patrick's Church and St Thomas' Church have Sunday Masses at 6:30pm on Saturday and at 10:00am on Sunday, with St Patrick's having another Sunday Mass at 7:00pm.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Church, Walsall Buildings and structures in Walsall Roman Catholic churches in the West Midlands (county) Grade II* listed Roman Catholic churches in England Grade II* listed churches in the West Midlands (county) Neoclassical church buildings in England 1825 establishments in England Roman Catholic churches completed in 1827 Religious organizations established in 1825 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Vocationist churches in the United Kingdom