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PARISH
HISTORY |
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Birtley's
Catholic Community Down The Centuries. |
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| NB: Original 1745 baptismal and 1843 marriage records of the parish are now with the Tyne & Wear Archives, Blandford House, Blandford Square, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 4JA (tel: 0191 232 6789). | |
Birtley
Catholic Mission and Parish
by Father Geoffrey Scott OSB.
NB: Place cursor over photographs to read description.
1. The Beginning until 1890.
by Father Geoffrey Scott OSB.
NB: Place cursor over photographs to read description.
1. The Beginning until 1890.
After the Reformation and
during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. County 
Durham'
Catholic community was served by a number of priests who belonged
to the secular clergy or to the religious orders, such as the Jesuits
and the Benedictines. In centres of large population like Durham,
these priests were supported largely by their small congregations.
Elsewhere, the priest was the chaplain to a wealthy Catholic family,
like the Riddells of Gateshead. Sometimes, the priest was a 'riding'
missioner, going around on horseback, visiting a circuit of small
Catholic congregations. Throughout this time, the Catholic community
was subject to restrictions and sometimes persecution on account of
its beliefs. We have no definite
record of a Catholic community in the Birtley area before the 1690s,
although it is likely that there were a few catholics in the vicinity
of the nearest town of any importance, which was Chester-le-Street.
This was a prosperous market town and the centre of a widespread and
important Anglican parish in the Anglican diocese of Durham.
Durham'
Catholic community was served by a number of priests who belonged
to the secular clergy or to the religious orders, such as the Jesuits
and the Benedictines. In centres of large population like Durham,
these priests were supported largely by their small congregations.
Elsewhere, the priest was the chaplain to a wealthy Catholic family,
like the Riddells of Gateshead. Sometimes, the priest was a 'riding'
missioner, going around on horseback, visiting a circuit of small
Catholic congregations. Throughout this time, the Catholic community
was subject to restrictions and sometimes persecution on account of
its beliefs. We have no definite
record of a Catholic community in the Birtley area before the 1690s,
although it is likely that there were a few catholics in the vicinity
of the nearest town of any importance, which was Chester-le-Street.
This was a prosperous market town and the centre of a widespread and
important Anglican parish in the Anglican diocese of Durham.
By the 1680s, the Catholic centre
of Chester-le-Street was to be found at Lumley Castle and in the park
which surrounded it. Richard, First Baron Lumley, had been brought
up a Catholic, but became an Anglican in 1687. His sisters, however,
and some members of the Lumley household seem to have remained attached
to the ancient faith. Lumley's agent was William Tempest and a member
of the famous Catholic family of that name. It was this gentleman
who, despite the apostacy of his patron. Lord Lumley, donated in 1696
the sum of £300 (princely sum in those days) to the English
Benedictine monks to provide a priest for the few Catholics around
Lumley Park and Chester-le-Street. The condition of the gift was that
mass should be said each month for the donor by the monk who was supported
by the interest from the investing of the fund.We have little surviving
evidence of this Lumley Park mission over the next few decades, although
we do possess the names of the monks who served it. There is also
a strong tradition that during the period of persecution, these monks
ministered to the Catholics of the area by travelling from place to
place disguised as pedlars. Birtley as such can hardly have been said
to exist during this time. It can have been little more than a hamlet
with a few houses in which lived miners working in the many surrounding
pits. This insignificance may partly explain why Father Leander Raffa
moved the Catholic mission in 1746 from Chester-le-Street to Birtley.
For in the previous year, Catholics especially in the north had undergone
a renewed persecution because of their alleged support of Bonnie Prince
Charlie and the Stuarts in the Jacobite Rising of 1745. In the city
of Durham, an angry mob attacked one of the 'popish chapels', and
in Gateshead, Father John Walsh, a Jesuit, who was nicknamed 'Daddy
Walsh", was 'smoked out' of his lodgings by the Duke of Cumberland's
troops. lf Chester-le-Street was such an important town, Catholics
would doubtless have wanted to keep out of the limelight, and the
quiet backwater ofBirtley would have been a suitable refuge for a
Catholic priest. Catholics in Gateshead might also have helped in
the development of the Birtley mission at this time. Father Raffa
was chaplain to the Riddell family whose main seat was at Great Swinburne,
north of Hexham, in the 1740s, and the Riddells had a large house
and property in Gateshead adjoining the present St Edmund's (Anglican)
chapel which still survives. This Gateshead property also seems to
have been threatened by the mob at the time of the 1745 rebellion,
and it is possible that the Riddells' chaplain. Father Raffa, retired
to Birtley at this time in order to avoid trouble.
Once in Birtley, the Catholic
mission expanded fast, helped by money left to the mission by members
of the Brandling family who were wealthy coal owners in Leeds and
Felling. Ralph Brandling, who died in 1751 aged 21, left £500
to the Chester-le-Street mission. He had probably been taught as a
boy by Father Raffa in the Benedictine college at Douai in northern
France. The conditions of this gift were that 22 masses be said yearly
for Ralph Brandling, and that 2 masses should be said each month by
the Birtley priest in Felling, where his mother lived. It was the
Brandlings who seem to have introduced the Humble family to Birtley.
Like the Brandlings, the Humbles had connections with Leeds and the
heads of the family acted as coal agents for the Brandlings in their
pits around Felling and Birtley. The Humbles were to be great benefactors
to the Catholic congregation in Birtley for over one hundred and fifty
years. The Birtley Catholic baptismal register which dates from this
period lists the names of successive generations of this family.
Gradually, more donations
were added to the invested capital of the Brandling fund. In 1753,
for instance, the Benedictine Placid Hutton, a Durham man, left £100
to be invested to help Birtley. It was for reasons of safety that
all these funds were invested with local Catholic families like the
Erringtons of Beaufront, near Hexham, who were looking after the Tempest
fund in 1725 and the Swinburnes of Capheaton who were later to take
care of the Brandling fund.
The Birtley baptismal register
gives us an indication of the size of the Catholic congregation from
about 1750. More importantly, it also shows the growth of the congregation,
as Birtley expanded in response to the demands of industrial growth
in the last decades of the eighteenth century. Between 1745 and 1770,
there were usually no more than five baptisms a year, but from the
1770s, this figure doubles. It is significant that this increase coincided
with two Acts of Parliament (in 1778 and 1791) through which many
of the penal laws against Catholics were repealed.
A better indication, however, of the actual size and type of the congregation attached to the Birtley mission during the eighteenth century can be gained from a variety of other sources. In 1744, just before the mission moved from Chester-le-Street to Birtley, the authorities drew up a list of Catholics 'suspected of being dangerous' (presumably they were Jacobite sympathisers); there were 25 of these in Birtley, 14 in Chester-le-Street, including Father Edward Bulmer, and those in Felling included RalphBrandling of Felling Hall. By far the most valuable source for Birtley, however, is the list of Catholics drawn up nationally for the House of Lords in 1767. This showed that there were 137 'papists' in the parish of Chester-le-Street, of which 14 were living in Birtley, and another 30 in Lamesley parish. The 1767 Returns are particularly useful because they tell us of the ages and professions of Birtley Catholics: 13 of the men worked in the coal trade as miners, viewers, wrights and staithmen, but there were also a merchant, innkeeper and
husbandmen.
Four Humbles were also listed: Mary (aged 68), and her 5 grandchildren,
Ralph (aged 42), and his 9 children, Anne (aged 55) and Margaret (aged
60). The priest, Father Robert Daniel, whose name is also found in
this list, was, of course, also responsible for the Catholic congregations
found, not only in Birtley, but also in Chester-le-Street, Lumley
Park, Pelton, Waldridge, Whitehill, 'Pictree', Fatfield, Chateshaush.
Portobello and Urpeth. Thirteen years later, in 1780, the number of
Catholics in the whole Anglican parish of Chester-le-Street, which
included Birtley, had grown to 180.
A better indication, however, of the actual size and type of the congregation attached to the Birtley mission during the eighteenth century can be gained from a variety of other sources. In 1744, just before the mission moved from Chester-le-Street to Birtley, the authorities drew up a list of Catholics 'suspected of being dangerous' (presumably they were Jacobite sympathisers); there were 25 of these in Birtley, 14 in Chester-le-Street, including Father Edward Bulmer, and those in Felling included RalphBrandling of Felling Hall. By far the most valuable source for Birtley, however, is the list of Catholics drawn up nationally for the House of Lords in 1767. This showed that there were 137 'papists' in the parish of Chester-le-Street, of which 14 were living in Birtley, and another 30 in Lamesley parish. The 1767 Returns are particularly useful because they tell us of the ages and professions of Birtley Catholics: 13 of the men worked in the coal trade as miners, viewers, wrights and staithmen, but there were also a merchant, innkeeper and
husbandmen.
Four Humbles were also listed: Mary (aged 68), and her 5 grandchildren,
Ralph (aged 42), and his 9 children, Anne (aged 55) and Margaret (aged
60). The priest, Father Robert Daniel, whose name is also found in
this list, was, of course, also responsible for the Catholic congregations
found, not only in Birtley, but also in Chester-le-Street, Lumley
Park, Pelton, Waldridge, Whitehill, 'Pictree', Fatfield, Chateshaush.
Portobello and Urpeth. Thirteen years later, in 1780, the number of
Catholics in the whole Anglican parish of Chester-le-Street, which
included Birtley, had grown to 180. By this year, 1780, our
picture of the Birtley Catholic mission becomes clearer, thanks largely
to letters from the Birtley priests to their religious superior, the
Benedictine President who was then living in France. Father Robert
Daniel was to be the mission priest until his death in 1781 and for
most of his time in Birtley had lived with a family who belonged to
the congregation. His letters suggest that the mission chapel itself
was to be found in the same family house. By 1779, this family had
'broken up' so the priest was determined 'to purchase land and build
a place to pray in himself'. He expected Benedictine funds to be used
for this purpose. Despite his grumbles about the poor salary he was
being paid whilst in Birtley and about his ill-health, he was reluctant
to leave. He admitted that the congregation was large, but that ever
since 'the Lumleys' defection', it had been 'unstable'. The only household
which had the means to put up the priest as a lodger was that of the
prosperous merchant, Mr Thomas Hill, and his was presumably the family
which had 'broken up'. There is no further mention of this chapel,
and as at the time of his death in 1781, Father Daniel seems to have
had a lot of money invested locally. We can only presume this was
set aside by him to finance the proposed chapel. There was a brief
interval after Father Daniel's death, when no priest was resident
in Birtley, and therefore, between 1781 and 1783, it was served from
Pontop Hall by the secular priest Father Johnson. The frequent journeys
from Pontop soon proved a great burden to him and the Benedictines
therefore decided to install Father Bernard Slater in early 1783 as
priest in Birtley. He was to remain as pastor of the congregation
until his death in 1810.
It is likely that Birtley's
first free-standing chapel was erected soon after Father Slater's
appointment, thus realising his predecessor's Father Robert Daniel's
principal aim. The 1791 Catholic Relief Act allowed Catholics for
the first time to build their own chapels. These had to be in secluded
positions, they were to be simple and unadorned, without bells or
towers, in order that their construction might neither annoy nor alarm
Protestant neighbours. Birtley's new chapel was registered on 29th
October 1791, and was then described as 'a place of Religious worship,
prepared and used in or near the Dwelling House of John Slater, Clerk,
situated at Birtley'. This registration was performed by Father Slater,
by the merchant Thomas Hill, and by Charles Joseph Humble of the White
House, then aged 28 years old, and known by later historians as the
benefactor who had donated the parcel of land for this first chapel
and priest's house.
II. 1800 until the Present
From 1800, the history of the Catholic community in Birtley is quite well documented, and except for an interval between 1825 and 1828, there were resident priests in the town. Between 1802 and 1805, there were, in fact, two priests in Birtley, because Father Bernard Slater was joined by the retired monk. Father Anselm Bolton, who made his name as the monk who gave up his home at Ampleforth in North Yorkshire to house his community exiled from France after the French Revolution. Birtley, in fact, was at this time the only mission in County Durham which was served by priests from a Religious Order, in this case, the Benedictines. The Birtley Benedictine priest had still a wide area to look after. In 1807, for instance, we find him officiating as far away as St Andrew's, Newcastle, and at Saltwell, Gateshead, in 1817 and 1825. InBirtley, the priest continued to officiate in the chapel which, as we have already suggested, dated from about 1791.
From 1800, the history of the Catholic community in Birtley is quite well documented, and except for an interval between 1825 and 1828, there were resident priests in the town. Between 1802 and 1805, there were, in fact, two priests in Birtley, because Father Bernard Slater was joined by the retired monk. Father Anselm Bolton, who made his name as the monk who gave up his home at Ampleforth in North Yorkshire to house his community exiled from France after the French Revolution. Birtley, in fact, was at this time the only mission in County Durham which was served by priests from a Religious Order, in this case, the Benedictines. The Birtley Benedictine priest had still a wide area to look after. In 1807, for instance, we find him officiating as far away as St Andrew's, Newcastle, and at Saltwell, Gateshead, in 1817 and 1825. InBirtley, the priest continued to officiate in the chapel which, as we have already suggested, dated from about 1791.
The
best description we have of this small mission chapel is to be found
in the Catholic Magazine of March 1832, which describes this chapel
and the priest's house being in the north west part of the town, 'a
plain unpresuming edifice'. This suggest it was on the site or very
close to the present St Joseph's Church, since the centre of old Birtley
village was in the area around where Charles Perkins's monument now
stands, and St Joseph's is to the north west of this. There were in
1832, at the time of the above report, 'one hundred communicants'
in the Birtley congregation, and this number was to grow rapidly as
the coal industry underwent a huge expansion during these years. As
the Catholic Irish streamed into this part of the world in ever larger
numbers in search of work in the pits, so the little chapel built
some fifty years earlier was soon unable to house the growing number
of Catholics. By 1837, Birtley's Catholic
mission narrowly escaped being re-absorbed into Chester-le-Street,
which had remained the administrative and urban centre of the district.
In June of that year. Father William Riddell wrote to Bishop Briggs:
'For a long time I was against the Chapel being built in Chester-le-Street
because the most regular attenders in every way were either living
at Birtley or close to it. I thought it rather hard upon those who
had given general edification to lose the benefit of the slothful
and the negligent'. Such sentiments demonstrate how strong the faith
was among Birtley folk at the time. But Riddell reluctantly conceded
that it might be better to transfer the chapel to Chester-le-Street
'principally on account of it then being in a town'. Again, we are
left with the impression of how small a place Birtley must have been
as late as 1837. Riddell's letter also gives us some impression of
what a poor state of repair the chapel was in by this time: 'The present
chapel is an abominable place, so exceedingly damp and rather out
of the way, and certainly has no attractions. The House, though small,
is very tolerable'.
The tug-o'-war between
Birtley and Chester-le-Street in regard to the chapel's location was
won by Birtley. The monks preferred to remain in Birtley and pledged
their commitment to remain here by deciding to replace the old run-down chapel with a new church
in 1842-3, which was designed by the famous North-Eastern architect,
John Dobson, who was responsible for some of the finest buildings
in Newcastle, including the Central Station. In 1815, Dobson had already
designed Birtley Hall (south of St John's Anglican Church and demolished
in the 1960s) for the Warwick family, and whilst busy on the new Catholic
Church in Birtley, he was also engaged on plans for the Catholic churches
at Longhorsley (1841), Felling (1841) and Ministeracres (1843). Dobson
designed for Birtley the Chapel, Priest's House and Schools. It was
this Church whose 150th anniversary we celebrated in 1993. Its erection
marks the Birtley Catholic mission's coming-of-age, for in 1843, it
became for the first time a recognisable parish, with its own handsome
Gothic church dedicated to Saint Mary and St. Joseph.
The labours involved in
all this building fell on the shoulders of Father James Sheridan,
who had become the parish priest of Birtley in 1841. He gained permission
from his Benedictine superiors to purchase a plot of land from the
Maddison family on which he built the church and its associated buildings.
This land cost £400 and the building itself, £1000, most
of which Father Sheridan seems to have begged from well-wishers in
Liverpool. The foundation stone was blessed on July 16th 1842 by the
same Father Riddell who had tried earlier to transfer the mission
to Chester-le-Street. The church was opened at a mass on 18th August
1843 which was celebrated in the presence of Bishop Mostyn. The procession
into the church was led by the 'Newcastle and Sunderland guilds' and
Father Henry Brewer, the Benedictine provincial of the North, preached
on 'the sacrifice of the mass'. The choir came from Sunderland, the
collection taken amounted to £30, and 'after the service, the
company sat down to an elegant and substantial entertainment'. On
12th May 1846, Father Sheridan registered the new church 'as a place
of Congregation or Assembly for Religious Worship after the manner
of the Church of Rome'. There are many famous anecdotes about Father
Sheridan. It is said, for instance, that one night he returned to
find the Church doors locked during what was supposed to be a choir
practice, so he went into the Church through the sacristy where, to
his amazement, he discovered the choir dancing across the floor accompanied
by the organ. He promptly expelled them.
Throughout the following
decades, the congregation continued to grow, causing another major
building scheme to take place in 1862, when the nave was extended,
the separate sanctuary built, and the sacristy added. When this project
was completed, a High Mass was sung by the Prior of Ampleforth in
the presence of Bishop Hogarth, and the sermon was preached by Father
Cuthbert Hedley, a native of Morpeth and monk of Ampleforth, and later
Bishop of Newport. The choir sang a mass composed by Thomas and John
Swinburne who owned a brickyard in the town and who had been educated
at Douai. They were to be amongst the greatest benefactors of the
parish. The steady growth of the parish continued throughout the rest
of the century. A new school was built in 1870, further property was
purchased, and land bought for a church and school at Wrekenton in
1882. The century ended in 1896 with the bi-centenary celebration
of the establishment of the original Lumley Park mission in 1696,
when the choir and orchestra performed Gounod's Messe Solennelle under
the direction of the two Swinburne brothers.
What picture do we have
of the congregation in these years? The development of a school shows
a growing Catholic population, and the setting up of various parochial
societies demonstrates the continuing close bond betweeen church and
people. In1895, for instance, Father Benedict Scannell founded the
League of the Cross, originally a Catholic organisation to support
temperance, but Birtley's League soon developed its own fine brass
band attached to St. Joseph's.
Fortunately, we have the
personal reminiscences of Father Wilfrid Phillipson who was parish
priest in Birtley between 1884
until 1891 which give a revealing picture of the parish at this time.
In 1884, with some fear and trepidation, he reached Birtley at night,
after a journey on the train from Newcastle, and leaving the station,
climbed up to the church, 'along a cinder path with fields on the
left, and a few cottages on the right'. There was no pavement, no
street lamps, drainage nor water supply. He boasts that a water supply
came to Birtley when he promised he would support temperance and teetotalism
only after a water supply had been installed. Father Phillipson's
parish was still extensive, covering an area of nearly forty square
miles. Inevitably he had to deal with frequent serious mining accidents;
in 1884, for instance, he remembered forty two dying from a pit explosion.
Smallpox was another scourge; during one epidemic, he recounted that
he had buried 'our Catholic dead by night'. Father Phillipson was
friendly with Miss Charlotte and Miss Anne Humble who were the last
two members of a family which had supported the mission in Birtley
for generations. He later returned to Birtley to preach the bi-centenary
sermon in 1896, choosing for his text the words: Others have laboured,
and you have entered their labours. 'I traced back the history of
the mission from the present time to the dark days - 200 years ago
- when the remnant of the faithful, at the peril of their lives, met
in the narrow, windowless hiding-hole still existing in the village,
to receive the Bread of Angels from the hands of a proscribed and
hunted priest of God'.
During the 20th century,
it is surprising how little the parish as such has changed since Father
Phillipson's time. The north aisle and Lady Chapel were added by Father
(later Abbot) David Hurley in 1910. During this century, the sodalities
and societies have continued to expand: St. Joseph's Football Team,
St Joseph's Literary Debating Society Study Club (1930), the Catholic
Young Men's Society (1933), the Children of Mary, the Tertiaries,
the Catholic Women's League, the Society of St Vincent de Paul, the
2nd Birtley St Joseph's Scouts, Cubs, Brownies and Guides, the Knights
of St Columba, and latterly, the Young Mothers' Group. All of these
tell us something about the congregation's devotion to its church
and to its members. The long tradition of choral music has been maintained
in the Male Choir, and has taken on another form in the Folk Group
established in the 1970s.
In 1935, the chapel of
St Benet at Ouston was founded, which, thanks to the development of
new housing estates, has now its own primary school. In the late 1960s,
the re-ordering of the church was begun, in accordance with the liturgical
directives of the Second Vatican Council, and in the early 1980s,
a new social club, opposite the church, was built and linked up with
the Parish Hall, which had originally been the school. A major change
occured in 1977 when the Benedictines who had staffed the mission
and parish for over two hundred years,
left and were replaced by diocesan
clergy. The 1970s and 1980s saw an expansion of ministry within the
parish as the clergy encouraged members of the congregation to share
in their pastoral work.
left and were replaced by diocesan
clergy. The 1970s and 1980s saw an expansion of ministry within the
parish as the clergy encouraged members of the congregation to share
in their pastoral work. Thus, a convent was established
near the church, which became the home of two Sisters of the Congregation
of the Daughters of Jesus, who soon found themselves fully part of
the parish. Later, a large team of Eucharistic Ministers were commissioned,
allowing many of the house-bound and sick to be visited and to receive
Holy Communion more frequently.
Birtley still remains a
traditional parish, despite the development over the last thirty years
of large numbers of new housing estates. It has no large institutions
like hospitals and schools which require more specialist ministries.
Instead, its priests devote themselves fully to the parish, and in
this way, the traditional character of this Catholic community has
continued, as it has in the past, to provide strength, support and
inspiration to its members. In1996, we shall be celebrating the 300th
anniversary of the establishment in 1696 of the Catholic 
Chapel in Lumley Park, and in 1993, we are
commemorating the 150th anniversary of the building of St Joseph's.
Chapel in Lumley Park, and in 1993, we are
commemorating the 150th anniversary of the building of St Joseph's.
Our first records of Birtley's
Catholic places of worship date from the end of the 17th century,
but over the three hundred years since then, much of Birtley's Catholic
history has been passed on by word of mouth by generations of parishioners
devoted to the town's Catholic history: Inevitably then, the evidence
has been elaborated and has doubtless undergone some distortion in
the telling.
What follows is an attempt
to piece together the evidence we have for the various buildings which
have served Church in 1843. We therefore congratulate Father Tony
Duffy and Father Peter Kelly and all the members of the parish, and
ask God's blessing and protection for the future.
Nothing is known about
that first chapel attached to the mission at Lumley Park until 1746,
although it was almost certainly a domestic chapel, that is, it was
to be found in the home of a member of the congregation. No free standing
chapel was allowed by law at this time. One relic which we do possess
from this time is the small, late seventeenth century silver chalice
which was rediscovered in the1980s in St. Joseph's Primary School
by Father Brian Murphy.
Once the priest moved to
Birtley in 1746, another chapel seems to have been established, although
this was again in a private house. This was the "windowless"
apartment, about seven feet square and hardly six foot high, found
in the eastern part of the town. It is said to have been located in
'Atkinson's Buildings', behind the Rose and Shamrock Public House,
in what is now Kateregina. The priest lived with a 'pious Catholic
family', latterly the family of the merchant, Thomas Hill, and travelled
about the countryside disguised as a pedlar. In the middle of the
nineteenth century, Father Bede Swale (1850-79) at his own expense
kept the little windowless apartment white-washed and clean, out of
reverence for the hallowed purpose it once served'. This 'small unlighted
chamber' was still standing at the end of the nineteenth century,
when Father Wilfrid Phillipson regretted not gaining possession of
it.
As we have already seen
from the correspondence, there were moves afoot to build a bigger
and free-standing chapel in the late 1780s, whose completion coincided
with the 1791 Catholic Relief Act, which gave Catholics religious
freedom. This chapel seems to have been built on land donated by Charles
Joseph Humble, probably near the site ofthe present St Joseph's. It
was a humble affair, and probably resembled a plain nonconformist
chapel. When there was no priest resident between 1825 and 1828, the
story is told that Mr Humble of Birtley White House, which was situated
south of the present Leafield House, had the whole congregation taken
to Newcastle for Mass in a farmer's long cart. It was in this chapel
that Father James Higginson died whilst saying Mass in 1836. He was
taken into the presbytery, and the church locked, everything being
left untouched, until a priest came from Newcastle the next morning
to finish the uncompleted Mass.
In 1884, Father Wilfrid
Phillipson recounts that the 'sanctuary end' covered with an arched
ceiling was all that was left of this chapel. After its replacement
by the new church in 1843, it served as a workman's cottage. Its altar
and altar-stone were, however, later taken to Wrekenton and used in
the new church there from 1882.
150 years of Service.
This was opened in 1843 and was dedicated to St Mary and St Joseph. It was designed by John Dobson, who tended to build churches essentially Georgian in style but with Gothic additions. Birtley St. Joseph's is in the Early English Gothic style, with very thick walls and a porch. It was built on a commanding position in the north of the town. The dedication to St Mary seems to have been dropped early on, although older parishioners will remember the stone St. Mary's Terrace which lay to the east of the present presbytery. The only major additions to the church were made by Father Bede Swale in 1862, and consisted of an extension to the nave, a new sanctuary and sacristy. In 1910, Father David Hurley had the north aisle and Lady Chapel built.
This was opened in 1843 and was dedicated to St Mary and St Joseph. It was designed by John Dobson, who tended to build churches essentially Georgian in style but with Gothic additions. Birtley St. Joseph's is in the Early English Gothic style, with very thick walls and a porch. It was built on a commanding position in the north of the town. The dedication to St Mary seems to have been dropped early on, although older parishioners will remember the stone St. Mary's Terrace which lay to the east of the present presbytery. The only major additions to the church were made by Father Bede Swale in 1862, and consisted of an extension to the nave, a new sanctuary and sacristy. In 1910, Father David Hurley had the north aisle and Lady Chapel built.
The original sanctuaryof
l843 lay where the front pews now begin. Above the present confessional,
designed by a parishioner architect, Wilfrid McCann,
in the early 1970s.
in the early 1970s.
On each side of the chancel
arch are the figures of St Benedict and his sister, St Scholastica.
The large east window was the gift of Miss Anne Humble at the end
of the nineteenth century; until the 1960s, the name of its donor
was to be found in the bottom three panels. The rest, which were part
of the original sanctuary. The present sanctuary dates from 1862,
although the only original fitment is the stone piscina in the left
wall. In the continuous re-ordering which took place in the 1970s
and 1980s, the oak panelling, communion rail and pulpit of 1880 -
82, donated by private benefactors, were removed.
Below it was the site of
the 1862 high altar in stone, which was designed by Hanson and Dunn
and was, some time in the 1970s,
to be found in the Lady Chapel. Older parishioners will remember the
later, wooden high altar and reredos of oak, with its painting of
the Last Supper in the centre, its throne and the two panels depicting
the Annunciation and Nativity which are now in the Lady Chapel. This
altar and reredos were erected to commemorate the Bi-Centenary of
the mission in 1896, and were the gift of 'a respected Birtley family'.
The altar's wooden crucifix with
brass figure is now in the sacristy. In 1965, the altar was taken
to Ouston. The present high altar, of white marble and alabaster,
was moved to its present position in 1979. As can be seen from the
depletion of the Sacred Heart in the central panel and the passion
flower motifs on each side, this altar was originally dedicated to
the sacred Heart, and stood in the Lady Chapel below the Sacred Heart
window. It was the gift of the Swinburne family and dates from 1906.
The present tabernacle had been positioned from the late 1950s on
the earlier wooden high altar, until the reordering in the 1970s,
when it assumed its present position. 
An interesting feature of the sanctuary is the ceiling which is painted with the arms of important Benedictine monasteries. This work was begun between1882 and 1884, when Father Richard O'Hare was parish priest and completed under Father Wilfrid Phillipson (1884-1891). It follows the designs of Father Norbert Sweeney of Bath, a Benedictine of Downside.
On the north side the arms
depicted are those of:
-
St Mary's Abbey, York, Glastonbury Abbey & St Albans Abbey.
-
Evesham Abbey & Westminster Abbey.
-
(Not identified) Window.
-
(Not identified)
-
(Not identified) Altar.
On the south side the arms depicted are those of:
-
Douai Abbey (pre 1929)Douai Abbey (post 1929)
-
(Not identified) Bury St Edmunds Abbey, & DurhamPriory
-
(Not identified) The Order of St Benedict.
The
nave, with its beamed roof, and thick walls with narrow lancet windows,
is substantially as Dobson designed it. The oak pews, with linen-fold
pattern were installed in 1898. The Stations of Cross, which had ornate
wooden frames until the 1960s date from Father Wilfrid Phillipson's
time (1884-91), and were the gift of the executor of Miss Anne Humble.
The large crucifix on the wall in the middle of the aisle originally
hung above the pulpit. Until the 1960s there were statues of Benedictine
and English saints under canopies on the walls of the nave and aisles,
donated by the confraternities of the parish, such as that of Our
Lady of Mount Carmel, and by private benefactors. The
painting of the Black Madonna of Poland was given to the parish in
gratitude from the people of Poland. The architect of the 1910 aisle and
lady chapel is not known, although the stone masons 
were local men. Like the church,
they are in the Early English Gothic style. At the east end of this
aisle, there is a fine carved statue of our Lady of Lourdes in wood,
carved by craftsmen of the Bromsgrove Guild for Father Edward Morrall
in 1917, and a statue of St Joseph, the church's patron, which originally
stood at the side of the high altar. The lady chapel and many of
its effects were the gifts of the Blythe and Swinburne families.
Its black oak altar, originally against the north wall, was erected
to the memory of John Cuthbert Blythe in 1923, when Father Edward
Morrall was parish priest. It is now at the back of the main aisle;
for a time, it served as the church's temporary main altar, during
the liturgical alterations in the 1970s. Unfortunately its matching
reredos has been destroyed, although the two large copies of famous
Italian oil paintings of the Madonna have survived and are now fixed
to the chapel's walls. The statue of the Crowned Virgin 
was
until the 1960s at the side of the high altar.
On the wall are the marble tablets with the names of those from the parish who fell in the Great War of 1914-1918. These were originally attached to the base of a Pieta, one of many such carved by the firm of Wall of Cheltenham, which was blessed as a war memorial by Abbott David Hurley in 1918 on the 75th anniversary of the church's opening. Until the 1960s, it stood to the right of the Lady Chapel arch, close to the brass plaque commemorating the spot where John Lee, a lay minister of the Eucharist died suddenly during Mass on 16th February 1989. This Pieta is now outside, deteriorating in the graveyard, but fortunately, these panels, together with those added bearing the names of those who fell in the Second World War, were rescued and restored to the church.
In the late 1970s, according
to the fashion of the time, the font was removed to the lady chapel
to be closer to the main altar. Unfortunately, in the process, the
finely carved railings around the font were removed. The font, which
dates from the time when Father Edward Morrall was parish priest,
is a memorial to John Fallow Swinburne, his wife Mary, and his son,
Joseph.
3.
The Windows
Much of the church's stained glass was removed in the early 1960s to improve the natural lighting. Thus, we have to imagine many of the windows in the north aisle of 1910 being stained glass. Fortunately, some of the original roundels of the 1840s survive in the windows of the south wall of the nave. They represent Benedictine saints. The east window in the present sanctuary depicting the Passion has already been described.
Much of the church's stained glass was removed in the early 1960s to improve the natural lighting. Thus, we have to imagine many of the windows in the north aisle of 1910 being stained glass. Fortunately, some of the original roundels of the 1840s survive in the windows of the south wall of the nave. They represent Benedictine saints. The east window in the present sanctuary depicting the Passion has already been described.
- It was the gift of Miss Amie Humble in 1919 to mark the diamond jubilee of the Church and replaced earlier ones of 1843 and 1862.
-
- Miss Humble was the sister of Bishop Cuthbert Hedley and was living in retirement at that time in St Joseph's Convent, Stafford. In the Lady Chapel, the Sacred Heart window is to the memory of Father Benedict Scannell, who died in 1906, and that of St. Edward the Confessor, to the memory of Father Edward Morrall, who died in 1930. This window was originally in the north aisle and part of a much larger one which depicted scenes from the saint's life.
The other two windows, one representing the Church as a lighthouse, and the other commemorating John Cuthbert Blythe, are in the Art Nouveau style, and were the gift ofthe Blythe family.
-
- Finally, at the west end of the 1910
aisle, next to the original position of the font, is a fine window
in the style of the Arts and Crafts movement, showing the Baptism
of Our Lord. This is the work of J. Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild,
and is dated 1915. It was the gift of the Blythe family, in memory
of Jane Ann and John Merry Blythe.
4.
The Organ
The first organ was bought by Father Joseph
Sheridan (1841-50) and was replaced by a larger, second-hand 
instrument sometime after 1858, which cost £130. Like so much else of
value in the church, however, the present organ is the fruit of Father
Phillipson's labours. In 1891, just before he left the parish, Father
Phillipson began an organ fund, based on the £200 he had receivedfor
the purpose from John and Thomas Blythe. He received advice from Abbot
Anselm 0' Gorman, Abbot President of the English Benedictines, who was
himself an organist and musician, and was staying in Birtley at this
time. O'Gorman recommended that the firm of Nicholson of Newcastle be
responsible for the Birtley organ, and it was built after Father Phillipson
had left.
A private benefactor, possibly
one of the musical Swinburne brothers, had the 16 foot diapason added
in 1896. In the 1960s, this fine instrument was divided in half to allow
more natural light into the church, although the console was preserved
in its original state. The west gallery in which this organ is found
was completed in 1892; it replaces an earlier one erected in 1857-58.
(top)
5.
The Grounds and Graveyard
During
the 1960s, the graveyard was mostly cleared of its gravestones, which
were re-erected by the wall, and the area turfed. Some of the poplar
trees, planted by Father Wilfrid Phillipson in the 1880s were removed
at the same time. Besides possessing the gravestones of some of the
Church's important benefactors, the graveyard also contains the top
of the medieval spire of Chester-le-Street parish church, which is thought
to date from the 12th century, and was raised in its present position
in 1910 by Jack Blythe. The date of the stone grotto with terracotta
figures which is also to be found in the grounds is not known.
On the garden side, to the south of the church, there is the burial
vault of the priests who have served the parish from the nineteenth
century, as well as bronze statue of Our Lady, donated by a private
benefactor during the years in which Father Edward Morrall was parish
priest, to commemorate some of these priests.
-
"Let
us not forget that we owe a debt
to those who have gone before,
who lifelong suffered for the faith
and would have gladly suffered more.
For that priceless gift
which they held so dear,
may their memory never perish,
may they rest in peace is our fervent wish
and may Birtley Mission flourish."
John Swinburne
may their memory never perish,
may they rest in peace is our fervent wish
and may Birtley Mission flourish."
John Swinburne
Significant Dates in the History of St Joseph's of Birtley
| 1824 | Present site bought. Cost of site and church £1500. |
| 1843 | 18th August 1843 - present church opened. |
| 1862 | Nave lengthened at a cost of £1,100. |
| 1870 | Schools built - what is now the Youth Wing of the Parish Centre. |
| 1884 | In March 1884 - Wrekenton Mission opened - first Mass said. |
| 1898 | October 1898 - new shool opened - now the Junior School. |
| 1899 | 21st July 1899 - new oak benches bought and all paid for. |
| 1910 | New aisle added at a cost of £1,500. |
| 1916 | Oak statue of Our Lady given to St Joseph's. |
| 1922 | Organ moved to organ loft, & altar made. Pictures bought in Florence. |
| 1922 | New cemetery 'The Belgian' opened. |
| 1923 | Land bought for the new Infant School. |
| 1925 | Infant School opened. |
| 1925 | The League of the Cross move to new premises in Orchard Street but they were sold in 1930. |
| 1927 | Bronze statue of Our Lady erected on the lawn. |
| 1931 | A new Lourdes Shrine blessed in the grounds. |
| 1933 | July 1933 - new branch of the CYMS inaugurated. |
| 1935 | 21st April 1935 - first Mass at St Benet's, Ouston. |
| 1935 | 12th July 1935 - diocesan Catholic Young Mens' Society (CYMS) Rally held. |
| 1936 | 6th December 1936 - Mass said for the first time in the former United Methodist Church in Ouston. |
| 1948 | Catholic Womens' League (CWL) inaugurated. |
| 2001 | On 26th August 2001 - Final Mass said in St Benet's, Ouston, when the Church closed. |
| 2001 | On 17th June 2002 - Holy Mass in celebration of Fr Tony Duffy's 40 years in the Priesthood. |
| 2005 | On 11th June 2005 - Parishioner, Peter Lavery, was ordained Deacon by Bishop Kevin Dunn at St Mary's Cathedral, Newcastle upon Tyne. |
