Local History During Penal Times

A Short Account of the Catholic History of Great Eccleston and Surrounding Areas During Penal Times

At the English Reformation, King Henry VIII broke with the Pope and declared himself Head of the Church of England. Later Queen Elizabeth I forbade the Mass and 'massing' priests were treated as traitors. There were many people who would not accept the New Religion and clung to what they came to call 'the old Faith' centred around loyalty to the Pope and a great devotion to the Mass. They where willing to accept the loss of property, civil rights, and even life itself to have the Mass. Cardinal William Allan of Rossall (now part of Fleetwood) founded colleges in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal to provide priests who were smuggled into the country ministering to the faithful at the risk of their own lives.

One such priest was John Plessington, born at Dimples Hall in Garstang and executed at Chester in 1679. There were many 'recusants', as they became to be called, in Lancashire and many in our own area. It is confidently asserted that the Mass never ceased to be offered in our locality either in the village of Great Eccleston or in the houses of recusant families in the area; the Leckonby's of Eccleston House (now Leckonby House); Great Eccleston Hall (on Hall Lane) the home of the Stanley family; Cross House in Great Eccleston the seat of the White family for over four centuries; the Gillow's of Gillow House, Little Eccleston; the Blackburn's of Stockenbridge Hall in Tarnacre; the Butler's of Rawcliffe Hall to name but a few. The failure of the Stuart Rebellion 1745 made times very hard again for English Catholics. By this time Great Eccleston had its own resident priest, William Caton, and its own Roman Catholic Chapel, a thatched cottage on the Raikes. Caton was brought to Lancaster after the Stuart defeat and indicted and convicted of being a priest. He seemed to escape any penalty and continued his ministry till his death in 1749.

It was not until the Catholic Relief Act of 1791, that Catholics were allowed to build churches and schools. But there must have been a degree of tolerance in this locality as the first Catholic Church is recorded as being built in 1760, dedicated to Saint Laurence, and serving about 200 Catholics from around Great Eccleston and Saint Michael's. In 1829 a further Catholic Relief Act removed almost all civic disabilities from English Catholics. By this time Saint Laurence's was proving too small, and so the present Church of Saint Mary was built in 1835 and the old church became the parish school of Saint Mary. For a short time there had been a Catholic Boarding School in Great Eccleston, run by Peter Newby, a scholar and a poet (1775 -1778);  for some reason he took it elsewhere. But now the parish had its own school, which continues to flourish to this day.

Miss Emma Phipps, whose mother was a Leckonby, came to Great Eccleston for a day to see where here mother came from; she liked it so much that she stayed the rest of here life. Miss Phipps in memory of the Leckonby Family provided the present altar at the church. She also commissioned the building of Leckonby Hall now a nursing home. The present parish of Saint Mary serves the Catholic community in Great Eccleston and surrounding villages of Little Eccleston; Elswick; Saint Michael's; Roseacre; Thistleton and Inskip together with other churches in the area with whom we have strong links, we hope we are able to help to serve the wider community.

by Monsignor Michael Kirkham
[Parish Priest Saint Mary's Great Eccleston 1989 - 2002]