Buildings of Interest

Description

Built 1858

In 1854 a temporary chapel behind the Forresters Arms Blackrod was opened for the Catholics of the District.  Father Henry Jones was the first resident Priest.  The foundation stone of the present Church, dedicated to Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception, was laid on 19th March 1857.  The building was completed and solemnly opened by the R. Rev. Dr. Turner, Bishop of Salford on 28th April 1858. 

In 1862 a presbytery was erected and coupled to the Church by a vestry.  The vestry was demolished in 1968 and a new one was built on the other side of the Church.  Brass tablets can still be seen to perpetuate the memory of Father Henry Jones, John and Margaret Johnson, John McDonald and Dr. Richard Alphonso Cooke.

The lovely stained glass rose window in the west end of the church was the gift of Lady E Stafford of Swynnerton Park, Staffordshire, in memory of Mrs. Frederick Sewallis Gerrard, a great benefactor of the parish.  Principally through the exertions of Mrs. Gerrard, of Aspull House, the school was built in 1861, replacing the earlier school in Church Street.  Father Crilly enlarged the school in 1881.

Source: Fr Kevin Foulkes

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An attractive mid-nineteenth century church in a village setting on the edge of the Lancashire Plain. Its strong and simple Neo-Gothic design gives it a distinctive presence within the Haigh Conservation Area. Although it survives relatively unaltered from its original state, the unfinished sanctuary and its recent re-facing, as well as the demolition of the original presbytery, have reduced its coherence as an architectural ensemble, and the loss of furnishings has affected the quality of the interior.

Source: Taking Stock