St Brigid, Bradford - Roman Catholic
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Grey Mare Lane church
Mill Street (now on Grey Mare Lane),
Bradford
Lancashire
Cemeteries
The church does not have a graveyard.Church History
It was founded in 1879 on Mill Street. In 1995 that church building had to be demolished to make space for a new road, and they moved a short distance to Grey Mare Lane.
The parish is an offshoot from St. Anne's, Ancoats. Canon Liptrott acquired a site in 1877 upon which to build a school-chapel. This was opened in 1879. The mission became independent in 1880. Fr. William Sassen, a Dutch priest, served the mission for nearly 35 years. A new church was opened in 1884. The parish grew rapidly in numbers and largely through Fr. Sassen's efforts, St. Vincent's, Openshaw, and St. Willibrord's, Clayton, were developed into new parishes. Fr. W. Moran and Fr. Prendergast served here for a time, but for many years the parish priest has been Fr. Joseph Fitzgerald.Taken from 'Salford Diocese and its Catholic past', a survey by Charles A. Bolton, a Priest of the above Diocese. Published 1950 on the First Centenary for the Diocese of Salford.
| 14th November,1879: | Foundation of the Parish by Fr. Sassen. |
| 18th May, 1884: | First Church opened. |
| 3rd March, 1901: | Second Church opened by Bishop Bilsborrow. |
| 8th December,1964: | Reconsecration of the Second Church. |
| 16th October, 1971: | Parish Hall opened. |
| 30th June,1979: | Centenary Celebration. |
| 20th August,1995: | Last Mass celebrated in Second Church. |
| 27th August, 1995: | First Mass to be celebrated in Third Church building, the newly converted Parish Hall. |
| Fr. William Sassen | Nov 1879 - May 1913 |
| Fr. William Moran | May 1913 - Jun 1915 |
| Fr. Patrick Prendergast | Jun 1915 - May 1922 |
| Fr. Joseph Edward Fitzgerald | May 1922 - Nov 1964 |
| Fr. Michael Cronin | Dec 1964 - Apr 1990 |
| Fr. William Martin | May 1990 - July 1995 |
Church Records
Whilst every effort has been made to record exact details of record office and library holdings you are recommended to check with them before visiting to ensure that they do hold the records and years you wish to examine. Similarly check with transcript publishers to ensure they cover the records and years you require before making a purchase.
Original registers
Manchester Archives and Local Studies, Manchester Central Library, hold:- Baptisms 1879-1941
- Marriages 1880-1939
- Confirmations 1882-1940
Maps
The church is located at OS grid reference SJ871981. You can see this on maps provided by:- this church marked on a Google map. (Use this to report a corrected location)
- Old Maps
- Streetmap.co.uk.
- multimap.com.
- www.magic.gov.uk
- Google maps showing nearby churches with satellite image option.
The present church on Grey Mare Lane is located at OS grid reference SJ870980. You can see this on maps provided by:
- this church marked on a Google map. (Use this to report a corrected location)
- Old Maps
- Streetmap.co.uk.
- multimap.com.
- www.magic.gov.uk
- Google maps showing nearby churches with satellite image option.
This site provides historical information about churches, other places of worship and cemeteries. It has no connection with the churches themselves. For current information you should contact them directly.
Help required
The information provided has been obtained from a number of sources and although every effort is made to avoid errors, just a few may be present. So if there are any please let us know. [Use the link at the bottom of this page].We do not currently have the following information, and if you can provide it then please do so:
- Have you any details about the history of the church?
Old directories frequently contain such information, and if you can
transcribe such information and let us have it, we can add it to this page.
If you have any further information about the church that you think would be useful to other researchers then do get in touch.