St Mary and St Modwen 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 ...

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

, Staffordshire, England. It was built from 1878 to 1879, to designs by John Edgar Young 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 ...

. It is located on Guild Street in the town centre. 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, H ...

History

Foundation

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 ...

, a notable recusant in Burton was Thomas Paget, 3rd Baron Paget who died in 1590. Over the following two centuries a number of Catholics in Burton were fined. In 1794, St Francis de Sales Chapel was built in

Yoxall Yoxall is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Swarbourn on the A515 road north of Lichfield and south west of Burton upon Trent. South of the village, Yoxall Bridge crosses the River Trent. T ...

and Catholics travelled there from Burton to celebrate

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

. In the 1830s, 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 Burton from Yoxall by the priest Fr James Jeffries. Initially, the mission was in a

malt house A malt house, malt barn, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whisky and in certain foo ...

behind the Crown pub on the High Street. Later it was in a cottage behind the Old White Lion on the corner of Lichfield Street and Fleet Street. Fr Jeffries' successor, Fr Patrick O'Sullivan bought the current site of the church. On the site, a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, 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 ...

building that combined a school and a chapel was built. In June 1852, the chapel was opened.

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 ...

Burton-on-Trent - St Mary and St Modwen
''Taking Stock'', retrieved 11 June 2022

Construction

With the increasing local Catholic population of Burton, a new larger church needed to be built. The priest, Fr C. McCabe commissioned a Mr Young of London to plan a new church. According to

, he probably was John Edgar Young, the son of John Young. Archibald Matthias Dunn was consulted about building the church, but his design was rejected for being too expensive. Instead, J. Knight Morley, who previously worked with E. W. Pugin, was asked about the church and he modified Young's plans. On 16 May 1878, the foundation stone was laid by the

Bishop of Birmingham The Bishop of Birmingham heads the Church of England Diocese of Birmingham, in the Province of Canterbury, in England. The diocese covers the North West of the historical county of Warwickshire and has its see in the City of Birmingham, Wes ...

William Bernard Ullathorne William Bernard Ullathorne (7 May 180621 March 1889) was an English prelate who held high offices in the Roman Catholic Church during the nineteenth century. Early life Ullathorne was born in Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire, the eldest o ...

. Construction of the church was done by Messrs Lowe and Sons and was delayed by the late delivery of columns made of

Connemara marble Connemara marble or "Irish green" is a rare variety of green marble from Connemara, Ireland. It is used as a decoration and building material. Its colour causes it to often be associated with the Irish identity, and for this reason it has been na ...

. On 27 August 1879, the church was opened in a ceremony where

Cardinal Henry Manning Henry Edward Manning (15 July 1808 – 14 January 1892) was an English prelate of the Catholic Church, and the second Archbishop of Westminster from 1865 until his death in 1892. He was ordained in the Church of England as a young man, but co ...

Archbishop of Westminster The archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the metropolitan of the Province of Westminster, chief metropolitan of England and Wales and, as a matter of custom, is elected presid ...

, preached. The church cost £4,000 and was partially funded by a Mr F. M. Spilsbury from Willington. The

high 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 ...

was carved by John Roddis of Birmingham. In 1898, the altar in the Sacred Heart chapel was installed. In 1901, the altar in the Lady Chapel was added. Both altars were built by

Richard Lockwood Boulton Richard Lockwood Boulton (c. 1832–1905) was an English sculptor who founded the firm Messrs R. L. Boulton & Sons. It was centred in Cheltenham, England, and built monuments made of iron and stone in the United Kingdom.

. In 1902, the chapel windows were installed. They were built by

Franz Mayer of Munich Franz Mayer of Munich is a German stained glass design and manufacturing company, based in Munich, Germany and a major exponent of the Munich style of stained glass, that has been active throughout most of the world for over 170 years. The fir ...

. In 1910, the original school-chapel was replaced by a new school that later became the current parish centre.

Parish

St Mary and St Modwen Church has its own

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 ...

. The church has three Sunday Masses at Mass 9:00am, 11:00am and 6:00pm.

References

External links