St Michael and St John, Clitheroe - Roman Catholic

St Michael and St John,
Lowergate,
Clitheroe
Lancashire

Website

Cemeteries

The church has/had a graveyard.

Church History

It was founded in 1797.

The Stonyhurst Fathers began to take an interest in the few Catholics of this old market town after their arrival in the neighbour hood in 1794. It is related that in 1797 the congregation of Catholics consisted of twelve poor people. Fr. John Laurenson of Stonyhurst hired a small building and said Mass here in November 1797. As the congregation increased, a larger chapel was built, but the mission was served from Stonyhurst until 1842. Father J. Holden became the first resident priest in 1843. The congregation had increased to about 800 and a new church was built. This was opened in 1850 by Bishop Brown. Father T. Seed was Rector of the mission at this time. A beautiful new Lady Chapel was opened in 1884. The dedication of the church to St. Michael is a revival of the old dedication of the chapel in Clitheroe Castle, close to which the present church is situated. The parish is close to the Yorkshire border and serves an extensive part of the Ribble valley, which is in the Leeds diocese. In the baptismal registers the first Irish names occur very early, considering that Clitheroe is a rural town and some distance from the coast.

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.

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

Baptisms

• 1798-1865 held by Lancashire Record Office RCCO

Marriages

• 1798-1810 held by Lancashire Record Office RCCO
• 1838-1852 held by Lancashire Record Office RCCO

Burials

• 1798-1812 held by Lancashire Record Office RCCO
• 1843-1846 held by Lancashire Record Office RCCO

Copies of Original Registers

Baptisms

• 1798-1839 held by Lancashire Record Office DDX 241/9 - Microfiche
• 1798-1865 held by Lancashire Record Office MF 9/210 - Microfilm
• 1947-1962 held by Lancashire Record Office RCSF 2

Marriages

• 1798-1810 held by Lancashire Record Office MF 9/210 - Microfilm
• 1798-1838 held by Lancashire Record Office DDX 241/9 - Microfiche
• 1838-1852 held by Lancashire Record Office MF 9/210 - Microfilm
• 1947-1953 held by Lancashire Record Office RCSF 2
• 1961-1963 held by Lancashire Record Office RCSF 2

Burials

• 1798-1812 held by Lancashire Record Office MF 9/210 - Microfilm
• 1843-1846 held by Lancashire Record Office MF 9/210 - Microfilm

Maps

The church is located at OS grid reference SD7439041700. You can see this on maps provided by:

• this church marked on a Google map. (Use this to report a corrected location)
• Google Streetview (Drag pegman to centre of map to show picture)
• OldMaps
• StreetMap
• Open StreetMap
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Magic (Click + on map to view it)
• Vision of Britain
• English Jurisdictions in 1851
• 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.