Poulton-le-Fylde_Historical_anNbanner
This account of the history of St John's Catholic Church in Poulton was sold during Poulton’s Victorian Weekend in June 1987. The proceeds were given by St John's Church to Trinity, the Hospice in the Fylde.

The idea of compiling a history of the Catholic Church of St John the Evangelist, Poulton-le-Fylde,  developed from a W.E.A. course which I attended run by Martin Ramsbottom, then the Local Studies Librarian for Wyre District, in 1985, on the subject of 'Fylde Churches.'

The church of St John the Evangelist stands at the bottom of the Breck, at the end of a tree-lined drive, surrounded by fields. It was built, as was the custom at the end of the 18th Century, away from the main road, unobtrusive and secluded; a simple rectangular building incorporating both chapel and priest's house, without visible decoration or embellishment.
In the early years of the 20th Century, the original chapel building was closed and a new church built close by. In 1983 the old building was included for the first time in the list compiled by the Department of the Environment of buildings 'of special or historical interest’   and it became a Grade II listed building - by definition 'a building of special interest which warrants every effort being made to preserve it'.
This is an attempt to chart the story of the old church, its priests and congregations and the life of the local Catholic communities in the nearby villages and towns. The research was later published in book form and sold in aid of various charities nominated by the congregation of St John's.
 
Christine Storey
Revised  2004
Introduction
'On cold winter nights when the rain and hailstones are pattering on the windows, there are occasions when mother and father bring out the famous 'box' of family photographs of days gone by. The family gathers together to look at pictures of weddings, social gatherings and birthdays. There is a great joy and education as the family looks at its roots and beginnings. One hopes that this tradition, this handing on, will remain part of family life. Mrs Christine Storey - the Chairman of Poulton Historical Society (now the Poulton Historical and Civic Society)- has graciously produced an account of the roots and beginnings of St John's Catholic Parish-family in Poulton-le-Fylde.
stjfront
It is a work which has taken much research, both locally and afar and it will give joy and education to the reader Apart from the parochial aspect of the work, Mrs Storey gives the reader an insight into the development of our locality - social, geographical and religious. The transition of a religious community from Singleton to Poulton-le-Fylde, the reasons for the transition, the building of the church on Breck Road, etc., are all well spelt out I am grateful to Mrs Storey for her patient work in bringing up to date the history of St John's Parish. On behalf of so many people I offer deep congratulations to Mrs Storey for compiling so expertly the family roots and beginnings of our Parish.'
 
Edward Mitchell, P.P. St John's Presbytery Breck Road 
Summer 1987
 
The Reformation in the Fylde
Catholic Families and Homes in the Fylde
The Life of a Priest
 
In 1812, the congregation of Singleton again faced a major difficulty. Their priest, Joseph Orrell, announced from the pulpit  that it was essential that they should begin to look for a new site for a Catholic chapel as the lease on the present one would not be renewed by the Lord of the Manor. Writing about these events some time later, Rev Orrell's successor Rev Ralph Platt, described how a serious difference soon arose among members of the congregation as to the best site for the intended chapel. Some wanted the chapel to be built as near as possible to Singleton, others wished it to be in Poulton. These two groups Rev Platt came to label as 'the Poulton party' and 'the Singleton party'. Those of the Poulton party apparently fixed on a plot of land belonging to Mr Fitzherbert Brockholes of Claughton Hall with the intention of requesting that he give the plot of land of about half an acre to the church for the building of a new chapel. This Mr Fitzherbert Brockholes agreed to do, provided that permission was forthcoming from the Bishop of the District. With only this word of mouth agreement, the Poulton party began to make arrangements even to the extent of beginning to cast the bricks for the building. Everything was in a state of readiness for building by the end of the summer of 1813.
 
At about the same time 'a few leading Catholics about Poulton' set themselves up as trustees of the intended chapel. 'The trustees fell to work with great earnestness and with the aid of voluntary donations which they solicited and the more convenient aid of credit, they found themselves with their chapel and house attached covered in and completed by the autumn of 1814'.  In addition to the gift of the half acre for the actual building, Mr Fitzherbert Brockholes also conveyed to the trustees further land around the church, consisting of two 'closes or parcels of land' which amounted to about 3 acres. On the land stood a cottage divided into two dwellings together with a garden. The only consideration which was laid down by Mr Fitzherbert Brockholes was that he or his legal representative, when residing at Mains Hall, should have the use for ever of the two front benches or pews situated on the north side of the gallery, together with two other benches situated directly behind them. These arrangements were specified in the deeds of conveyance for the chapel building.
 
There was to be no further request from the family other than the hope that future incumbents would 'have the goodness from time to time to think of him and his family'.  The chapel was opened on 18 October of the same year, the benediction of the chapel being performed by Rev Thomas Sherbourne, pastor of the Willows, Kirkham, who had been specially appointed by Bishop Smith to 'superintend the whole affair of the opening of the chapel'.  The opening of the new chapel in Poulton came at a time of great change in the life of the Catholic church in Lancashire. The spread of non-agricultural occupations among rural Catholics during the late 18th Century made possible the emergence of a network of rural missions independent of the local gentry. By the 1820s, the social influence of the Catholic gentry had probably ceased to be of real significance in the activity of local Catholic communities. In Poulton, the Heskeths were no longer resident locally. The Hesketh family had continued to live at Mains Hall until the death in 1751 of William Brockholes of Claughton Hall.   William Brockholes sister had previously married William Hesketh of Maines and their sons, on inheriting the estate of Claughton from their mother's brother, moved to Claughton and took the name of Brockholes. 
 
The influence of the Catholic gentry was declining and was being replaced by the rise of an independent urban Catholicism. Catholics of humbler social station were not only increasing in number but were also causing the centre of balance in the church to shift. At the same time, the clergy were becoming free of the control of land-owning patrons and many were in urban chapels which were developing informal parochial structures.  From 1778, when the first Relief Act was passed, Catholics were gradually being able to participate once again in the life of the country. They could legally purchase and inherit land, enter Parliament and be admitted to the professions. Catholic places of worship were legally accepted and new chapels could be built. The priest serving a closely knit country congregation under the benevolent eye of a Catholic landlord was now practically extinct.  
 
The new rural missionary priests would be busy men with more than one congregation and a wide area of country to serve. The priest at St John's was responsible for the village communities of Singleton, Thornton and Carleton as well as Poulton itself - a large area to cover for one man on his own in the days when roads were little more than cart tracks and many of the congregation lived in isolated farms away from the townships.  At the start of the 18th Century, two-thirds of the clergy were employed by the Catholic nobility and gentry, either in their own homes or in the early town missions under their patronage. At the end of the Century, three-quarters of the clergy were serving congregational missions independent of the landed families.
 
In 1820, the English Catholic clergy numbered about 400; there were seminaries functioning in England - Ware near London, Oscott serving the Midlands and Ushaw near Durham where most of the Fylde priests trained. From the records of Singleton it seems that two members of the Gillow family, brothers Richard and Henry, were among the first to attend Ushaw from the Fylde. Both men were ordained in 1821. The priests who came to St John's in the 19th Century were all north country men and probably knew the area well.
ST JOHNS HALL
The first priest at St John's was the Rev Ralph Platt. The priest who had been at the Singleton chapel at the time of the move to Poulton retired and Rev Platt joined the Poulton chapel towards the end of 1814. One of the first things he did was to write an account of how and why the move was made from Singleton to Poulton. He remained there until 1830 when he had to take charge of the parish of Great Eccleston due to the illness of the priest there. He was given an assistant at St John's in Rev Richard Brown and he in fact succeeded Rev Platt when he moved permanently to Great Eccleston. Richard Brown was a nephew of the first Bishop of Liverpool and St John's was his first church. His stay in Poulton lasted three years after which he moved to Leeds. Two brief appointments followed - Rev William Knight was in Poulton for three weeks until he moved to a mission in Hartlepool and Rev Henry Newsham was at St John's until he left for Penrith after four months.
 
The fifth incumbent of St John's was a member of an old Lancashire family -the Orrells of Blackbrooke. Philip Orrell was born in 1800. His elder brother Charles succeeded to the estate but died unmarried in 1843. There were four sisters, but with their deaths the family name died out in that line.  Rev Orrell stayed in Poulton from 1834 to 1862. His successor was William Johnson, born at Hindley in 1831. He came to Poulton in 1862 and retired in 1879.  It is the records which survive from the incumbencies of these two priests in particular which give such a vivid picture of the life of St John's in the 19th Century. It is fortunate that they were working in Poulton at the time when Alexander Goss was the Bishop of Liverpool - a man who kept detailed diaries of the parishes, missions and visits of his Diocese.
 
Rev Roger Arrowsmith succeeded Rev Johnson and he stayed at St John's for six years. His successor was Rev Thomas Grimes whose period at the church lasted from 1885 to 1900.  With the dawning of the new century came Rev William Vaughan to St John's; a priest whose memory lingers on for the older members of the congregation as he was to stay at St John's longer than any other priest before or since - 35 years. It was he who saw the necessity for a new church to be built and he was present also at the beginning of a new development in the North West when the Diocese of Lancaster was formed in 1926, at which time he himself was installed as a Canon.
 
The New Diocese Of Liverpool
Bishop Alexander Goss
 
In 1688, Bishops - called Vicars Apostolic - appointed directly from Rome, were instituted to serve the four Districts into which the Catholic communities of England and Wales were divided. The area of the Fylde was part of the Northern District. In 1840 the Districts were sub-divided and their number increased to eight. Poulton was included in the Lancashire District.  In 1850 the Catholic Hierarchy was restored and the Diocese of Liverpool created, of which Poulton was a part.  In 1924 the Diocese of Lancaster was created which included the Fylde.  The Restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in 1850 added another dimension to the history of St John's chapel, Poulton-le-Fylde, and the appointment of Alexander Goss to be the second Bishop of Liverpool some six years later was to herald the beginning of a remarkable period of development for the new Diocese. His influence was to be felt all over the Diocese, not least in Poulton. His amazing capacity for keeping records and diaries has enabled modern historians to understand more of the successes and tribulations of his time. 

Alexander Goss was born in Ormskirk on 5 July 1814. When he was 13 he was sent by an uncle to study at Ushaw College where he remained until 1839. Two years later he was ordained in Rome and towards the end of 1842 he was appointed Vice President of the newly formed College of St Edward in Everton, Liverpool, which opened as a school in January 1843. Ten years later, Goss was consecrated as Bishop Adjutor to the ailing first Bishop of Liverpool, George Brown.   Gillow's 'Directory of English Catholics' describes Alexander Goss:'He was of a dignified bearing, standing 6'3" with portly presence and vigorous speech. He was a powerful controversialist, an accomplished scholar and an eloquent preacher'.  

The Diocese of Liverpool was large, stretching from Westmorland down to the city itself and included the Isle of Man. Poulton lay in the area of Amounderness which accounted for roughly one third of the Diocese.  In Amounderness by the 1850's there were 26 Catholic missions comprising 9 town churches, 3 small town churches and 14 country missions. The Catholic population was estimated to be about 41,000 - roughly 25% of the population.   At that time, the area of Amounderness was itself sub-divided into 3 Unions - Garstang, Fylde and Preston. In the Fylde Union area stood the three towns of Lytham, Fleetwood and Kirkham, each with a Catholic mission and the two country missions of Poulton, with a Catholic population of 420, and Westby with 470.BISHOP GOSS

Bishop Goss himself wrote about the purposes of the regular visitations which were paid by the Bishops to the various parishes in each Diocese: 'To visit the churches of the Diocese every 3 years - to examine into the state of religion in each place; to correct abuses and to prescribe improvements'. Each visitation followed a set pattern, with early Mass on the Sunday morning; parish Mass with a sermon given on one of a prescribed set of topics considered to be relevant to that particular congregation; Confirmation and a sermon in the afternoon and sometimes an evening service. During the few days of the visitation, the Bishop would examine the church registers, financial records, the buildings of the church, school and presbytery. Recorded in the documents would be any recommendations which the Bishop felt necessary with regard to repair work or alterations to the structure or organisation of the church.  Bishop Goss visited the Fylde area regularly between the years of 1855 and 1867, seeing St John's in 1856, 1860, 1864 and finally in 1866. These visits to Poulton were included in planned travels which the Bishop would make to all parts of his Diocese generally spread over periods of two or three years, after which the whole cycle would begin again.  

In common with many of the priests in his Diocese, Bishop Goss suffered from failing health and a sad record exists of this which must have caused much disappointment in the Diocese.  One of the greatest events in the short history of the new English Hierarchy was the participation in the Vatican Council - the first General Council to be held for 300 years. The first public session was to be held on 8 December 1869. All the parishes in the Liverpool Diocese had made collections and money had been arriving in Liverpool for months beforehand to pay for the Bishop's important journey to the Vatican. Poulton had collected £4.0.6d, Lytham £9.10.0d, and the Willows, Kirkham £17.9.4d. All except one of the English and Welsh Bishops began that momentous journey in the winter of 1869. But Alexander Goss was taken ill on the journey and was forced to return to England. A letter to Canon Cookson in Liverpool dated 22 November 1869 said:  'The poor Bishop I fear is very ill. I sent for Doctor Ashton yesterday and he gave me only a gloomy account. The three doctors met again today - let us hope we may have a better account!'

It appears that after that time the Bishop undertook no further visitations and he died on 3 October 1872. Describing the response of the people of Liverpool to the Bishop's funeral, the Liverpool Daily Post wrote: 'Such a demonstration of respect was never witnessed in Liverpool before'.
 
The Market Town Of Poulton-le-Fylde  
Rev Philip Orrell  Churches in the Fylde
 The Closing of Singleton Church

 
At the beginning of the 19th Century, before Blackpool developed, Poulton was a thriving market town serving the whole of the Fylde coast - Blackpool innkeepers would come to Poulton to buy their produce at the busy market with locally caught fish for sale on the fish slab next to the Market Cross and stocks.  Several fairs were held in the town - an annual horse fair, a cloth fair three times a year, a fortnightly cattle market for which cattle were brought in through the new port at Fleetwood and a weekly corn market. Poulton was the centre of the local farming community and many of its 1,200 inhabitants were shopkeepers, tradesmen or draftsmen supplying the people of the neighbouring villages with goods and services. There were blacksmiths, cornmillers, bakers, butchers, grocers, dressmakers, milliners, tailors, nailmakers, brickmakers and builders. Their premises were generally sited in the Market Place, in nearby Tithebarn Street or on the Breck. During harvest time the population would be swelled by the arrival in the town of travelling agricultural labourers who with the farmers' families would bring in the harvest.   Poulton was becoming a popular place to live with several large family houses being built on the Breck. In 1846, a branch of the Preston and Wyre Railway was opened enabling holidaymakers to travel more easily between the industrial towns of Lancashire and the fast growing seaside town of Blackpool.  

The church of St John served three townships beside Poulton - Carleton, Singleton and Thornton. From a study of the early registers of St John's, it is possible to see how the congregation had to travel in to St John's from the outlying areas. Between 1815 and 1844 deaths ware recorded in St John's of people from 33 different communities - the highest numbers were as is to be expected, from communities around Poulton: 
 
          Singleton  61
          Thistleton  11
          Thornton  10
          Poulton  48
          Layton  11
          Carleton  9
          Great Eccleston  14
          Elswick  11
          Others  53
The early baptismal registers show a steady rise in the numbers, every year the number of births recorded was 3 or 4 times that of burials. 
During the 1860s a local writer and newspaper proprietor, Hewitson of the Preston Chronicle, was travelling around the Fylde compiling articles about the various churches and chapels in the area. These were published in a book 'Our Country Chapels and Churches'. The following is part of Hewitson's description of St John's, Poulton:
 
In two minutes after leaving Poulton station on the northern side we reached a gateway. We knew not where it led to yet imagined it was connected with Breck Catholic chapel, passed through it, walked up a small avenue with a species of farm yard ahead in which were three or four country conveyances and finally arrived at a square, heavy looking, solemn brick building which we at once found to be the chapel we were in search of. The building has nothing remarkable about its exterior. We enter it by a door at the westward. There are many people going in to it; the building is getting full; an official asks us to go into the gallery; we do not care much about the gallery, decline to go upstairs, proceed along a side passage, and in a moment experience a tap on the shoulder given by a young man who, when looked straight at, says, with a calm air of determination 'Want money'. We gave him what he asked for - twopence - that we presumed being the price of our sitting place, marched ahead and eventually landed in a little side pew. It was very clean in its arrangements, but awfully bad to sit in; it was wickedly straight-backed, narrow and cramped up and was the most uncomfortable twopennyworth of wood and cushion we ever had.'

'In the district there are 450 Catholics; the present chapel will hold about 270 and on Sunday mornings it is as a rule filled. The congregation is composed of agricultural and labouring people and embraces numerous earnest listeners, good bead counters and superior sleepers. There was no music during the service we attended, the leader of the choir or the harmonium player or the singers or somebody being away which necessitated a suspension of musical operations for once.'

Bishop Goss' first visitation of the Liverpool Diocese began even before his installation; on 12 October 1855 a letter was despatched to the Rev Orrell at St John's Poulton, referring to previous communications concerning the Bishop's forthcoming visit to the Fylde chapels. The subject of this first letter was about the visit he was planning to the chapel in Singleton where he was hoping to meet the beleagured congregation and hold Mass there. However it appears that Rev Orrell counselled the Bishop against such a visit on account of the poor state of health of the priest there. The mission at Singleton had been purchased and reopened in 1831 and a succession of six priests had worked there until the retirement of the Rev James Carr in 1847. From that time, Singleton had no permanent resident priest and it was only occasionally that services were held. The Rev John Anderton had arrived in Singleton in April 1851 and was to serve the mission until 1856 when he retired due to ill-health. He died just over a year later and is buried at the Willows.

The Bishop was obviously disappointed at the necessity for cancelling his plans to visit Singleton;
'I beg to thank you for your kind communication regarding Mr Anderton of Singleton. My reason for soliciting his place for a visit on Sunday was a desire to give the people Mass and a sermon in their own church, for it will require little inspection in the way of official visitation. I have however acted on your suggestion and written to Mr Anderton to say that if time will allow I merely propose calling on him on the Sunday. This will inflict a second call on yourself as I cannot now change the other arrrangements which stretch over a fortnight. If you will invite your people to come up on Saturday night, I will ask Canon Cookson to assist in the Confirmation. Perhaps no-one will wish to come but I will have the satisfaction of having done my duty.'

The visitation also involved Rev Orrell in more mundane arrangements, as the letter continued:
'I want to be at Great Eccleston for Afternoon Prayers; how must that be brought about? Is there any Singleton man or Great Eccleston man who can drive Canon Cookson and myself in a shandry from Poulton to Eccleston? I should feel obliged if you could negotiate a transit for me.' The visitation returns for 1855 are the only ones which seem to have survived in their entirety. They give a detailed picture of St John's as it was about 40 years after it had been built, it had probably changed little in that time.

New Catholic chapels that were built towards the end of the 18th Century and in the early years of the 19th were the first free standing buildings outside the gentry houses to be used by Catholics for worship. They were often indistinguishable in their plan and architectural style from Dissenting chapels. In many there were box pews, some with fees charged. There was little in the way of ornament, statues or relics and incense was rare; the church built at the bottom of the Breck was a typical example.  The following information isthat recorded by Rev Philip Orrell in the visitation returns of 1855:

The church, known as the Mission of Poulton, embraced the 4 townships of Poulton, Carleton, Thornton and Singleton. The property consisted of a church, sacristy and house all under one roof, with a cemetery, outbuildings, garden and land. The whole was bounded on two sides by roads, on the other two by land owners 'who I do not know'.

The house itself was square in shape, having a parlour, kitchens, pantry and four bedrooms. The furnishings included 3 mahogany tables - one large drop leaf, one small - folding and one small - round.   There were 8 dining chairs, a kitchen dresser, a fender, poker, tongs for the kitchen and a large kettle. The house was supplied with water, but at that time still had no gas-lighting. There were also 6 silver tablespoons, 6 teaspoons and sugar tongs which had been given to the mission by Rev Platt. There is little reference to the outbuildings - a provender chest in the stable was in good order. The stables and outhouse had been built later as an addition in 1828, incurring a debt of £50.

The church itself was oblong, measuring 20 yards by 12. It held 200 people in 54 bench pews each of which was for 4; there was standing room for a further 30 people and a gallery at one end. The building was of brick, with 8 plain windows. It must have been very cold - the church had no heating and the fire in the adjoining sacristy was 'lighted often in winter'. The ceiling and walls of the church were of plaster, 'oil coloured' to a height of about 6' and above that 'stone coloured, clean and in good order'. The chancel was decorated in fleur de lis 'at my own cost, by Carr'. The floor was flagged in the aisles and boarded under the pews (there was a small amount of dry rot in the floor). The interior woodwork of the windows had been painted in 1851; the floor was 'swept weekly and washed as occasion required'.  The report ends 'At my own personal cost, the church is kept in good repair.
 
The ancient chasuble in St John’s

stjchasuble
In February 1859 a questionnaire was sent to all priests in the diocese requesting information on the charges made by the various churches for baptisms, marriages and burials. Comparing the answers, which were supplied by the incumbents, it is obvious that the fees charged varied enormously; one chapel recommended that burial fees should be 13/-, another charged 7/6 for the burial of an adult member of the congregation 10/- for a non-member and 5/- for the burial of a child under 7 years of age.  St John's, in common with the Willows, Kirkham, charged 5/- for burials (half the fee went to the grave digger), all other services were free of charge. Philip Orrell felt strongly enough to write a letter when he submitted his information:

I am for the voluntary system in the matter of fees. The burial fee question has been put to us before - when shall we be done with these questions about money?'

It may well have been this questionnaire which prompted Philip Orrell to write to the Bishop about the financial difficulties which faced a priest in a poor rural community such as Poulton. Only the reply written by the Bishop's Secretary survives, but it still conveys the problem across the Century, offering sympathy but little in the way of practical help:

'The Bishop on examining your balance sheet, expressed his regret that your income derived from the church was so very limited - a circumstance which he regretted the more as there was no mission in his diocese whose premises were kept in better repair. It is a pity that there is no system by which length and value of service can be rewarded by improved circumstances as old age approaches, for the best provided missions, either from requiring greater physical strength or other more accidental circumstances, often fall into young hands. This has always been a matter of regret but the Bishop sees no remedy. One thing however you may rest assured of, that no-one would more sincerely rejoice than the Bishop to see all the clergy of his diocese better provided for so as to enable them to live and dispense their charities in a manner more suitable to their position in life.

In the mid-19th Century, the financial problems loomed large in the administration of missions. Debts could be heavy and the ordinary running costs ware a constant drain on resources. The principles followed in determining the order of priorities ware carefully laid down - the order of preference was:
Debts, Mass intentions, Housekeeper, Insurance, Maintenance, Emergency funds, Official expenses, Salaries.'
Salaries were to vary from a minimum of £25 per year to a possible £50 for a Rector. The priests' own
well-being and comfort ware rarely considered and as a result many of them suffered from ill-health, as their letters testify, brought on by over-work and poor living conditions. One of the earliest letters which serves to Illustrate these problems dates from December 1852 and was written by the Rev Anderton of Singleton to Liverpool:

'I have received your note with its contents safe. I am greatly obliged to you for prompt attention to my want. I will immediately set to work with the necessary repairs which are much wanted; one side of the chapel has not been thatched for 14 years. I was sorry to hear the other day that you had been very unwell. I hope you are better. I am happy to say that I am in tolerable, yea good health at present.'  

Ironically, the accelerating development that was taking place in the Catholic communities with an increasing population, the building of new missions and the training of priests to work in them, laid an even greater burden on the existing congregations. The principle sources of income for these new communities were the collections made in the existing parishes, thereby placing an even greater strain on those priests.   The Second Annual Report of the Ecclesiastical Education Fund of the Liverpool Diocese, responsible for financing the training of priests, refers to a directive of 1850: 'That one shilling be collected from every bench holder at the time when the rent of the bench is paid. Where this provision had been complied with it will be found to have been eminently successful. The amount sought is so small that one can hardly imagine any person would object to the payment of it and the mode of collecting it so easy that it would entail no additional labour upon the missionary while the possible receipts would exceed the expectations of the most sanguine.'

However the plan which in theory looked so promising may have proved difficult to carry out in some cases. In his returns for 1855 Philip Orrell said: '
The people contribute to my support by bench rents. Some do nothing.'The financial details he gave that year show briefly the difficulties he faced: 'I keep no account of the collection except the Diocesan Fund. The amount of collection for this for 1854-5 was £5 3.9d.'

Taxes paid on the house amounted to £6 per annum, 16/- came from burial fees that year (but half of this was paid to the sexton), a legacy brought £20 through interest on the investment and bench rents realised £30. Three fields belonging to the church which were rented out brought an annual rent of £29 from which taxes had to be deducted. The local Catholic communities gave financial help to one another as the building of chapels and schools accelerated both nationally and locally. A note from Great Eccleston on 21 October 1852: 'We had a collection of £4.11.0d towards the creation of the new school at Fleetwood.'  

A letter from the Isle of Man to Bishop Brown on 29 October 1851:
'Praying you to assist me with at least £25 for my past expenses.'

In 1850, Fleetwood received a maintenance grant of £36.17.5d and a building grant towards the erection of the new school of £100. The following year a grant was given of £37.19.3d. In the same year Singleton received £20.0.0d.   At the same time, the local congregations were contributing, with the others to the central Diocesan funds. In 1852, Rev Gibson of Fleetwood wrote to Bishop Brown concerning arrangements for a new church which was planned there. A chapel had been erected originally at the north end of Walmsley Street, on the east side, and was opened in 1841. The latter illustrates the weight of financial responsibility which each local priest had to bear:
'My new schools are well attended. There is a debt on them of about £60.0.0d, but of this 1 have taken the personal responsibility as I am determined to leave them without any encumberance, the difficulty of supporting them being quite enough to struggle with. There is already a debt of £200 on the temporary chapel but this is not my work, though it is necessarily a burden in so poor a place.  If we had £250 to build a house with I would undertake to get the rest and this would take £20 a year from our annual demand. I would moreover supply it with such furniture and books as would be necessary for its decent convenience. The land we have bought is well placed ... a proviso states that if a church be not built within 10 years that part of the land given for that purpose (half) must be restored to its original owners. I am naturally anxious to get clear away as soon as possible the preliminary difficulties.'.

It was in fact about 14 years before, according to Porter, on 17 May 1866:
'The foundation stone of the Roman Catholic church in East Street was laid by Dr Goss, Bishop of Liverpool, who performed the ceremony attended by a numerous retinue of priests and choristers.  It was opened on 14 November 1867.'

In 1852, the Manor of Singleton was purchased from the Hornby family by Thomas Miller who over the next few years gradually bought up all the freehold land in the village, proceeding as he did so to turn all the Catholic tenants out of their farms. Miller was soon in a position to make an offer to purchase the land on which the Catholic chapel stood, having thus forced the hand of the Bishop, and preparations began for the sale.  The difficulties concerning the chapel in Singleton dragged on. Bishop Goss had written to Philip Orrell in 1858 trying to organise the final details for the closing of the mission there:

'As it is quite impossible to find out whether anything more belongs to us at Singleton than that we have deeds for, I have directed Mr Miller's agent that you have the key. Young Mr Fair seemed surprised to learn that we did not rent the chapel.   After taking legal advice here I thought it best to act in this way - we have nothing to gain by delay. I shall feel obliged if you will advise Mr Hines to remove all perishable furniture to the Willows to be kept in store for Westby as you want nothing. It would be well to make a memorandum of what leaves the place as I shall have to render an account.'  

The reference to Westby is interesting. In the 18th Century, Westby had been a main centre for the local Catholics, who used the chapel at Westby Hall, the home of John Clifton. In 1845 he left the Catholic church and closed the chapel, leaving local Catholics with a long journey to the Willows in Kirkham. Father Hines organised the building of a new church at Westby with the help of gifts and donations from surrounding communities. The furnishings from the old mission at Singleton, which was in the process of being closed, will have found a use in the new chapel at Westby.  The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Goss in 1859 and the church opened the following year.   It was not until two years later however, in February 1861, that the Bishop wrote to the solicitors in Preston:

'I see nothing to prevent your closing the bargain with Mr Miller for the old chapel at Singleton: we cannot get better terms and the property is not worth a suit even if there were grounds for one which I very much doubt   Thank you for your zeal in this matter.'

The Catholic Record Society comments:
'Thus the mission at Singleton was extinguished after surviving the Elizabethan Reformation for 300 years.'  

The connection of the Catholic church with the village of Singleton finally came to an end some three and a half years later, on 7 September 1864. Bishop Goss was again visiting the Fylde; after completing his official visitation to St John's he made arrangements to pay a final visit to the nearby village which had witnessed such a turbulent Catholic history during the past century. In his diary for 7 September, he recorded how he and his companions, Rev Johnson and Canon Wallwork: 

'Drove to the neighbouring village of Singleton and inspected the beautiful Protestant church which has been erected on the site of the old Catholic chapel' .

A document recently located in the Lancashire Record Office dated 2 March 1861 (DDCm) records the sale of the Chapel at Singleton to Frederick Earnshaw Marshall of Penwortham Hall at a cost of £150.  The following provision is written into the contract between Alexander Goss and Marshall:

He ... 'shall before 1 January 1862 at his own cost and charge pull down the said chapel and shall not erect or permit to be erected upon the said plot any erection or building whatsoever, but that the said parcel being the site of the said chapel shall at all times hereafter be open and unbuilt upon.'  

The nearby site is occupied by a private house which was orignally the Vicarage of St Anne's parish church and it would be interesting, if the opportunity should ever arise, to investigate the possibility that some of the original buildings of the Catholic community are now incorporated in it.  

A brief glimpse of the lighter side of Philip Orrell's life comes with a letter of June 1859 from Bishop Goss, commenting on a visit to the Lakes: 

'I am glad that you enjoyed yourself at the Lakes. I think no recreation preferable to that taken among the natural wonders of creation and I am the last man to quiz anything for being done in a respectable way. I like the clergy of the Diocese to enjoy themselves like gentlemen and I know that you will never travel otherwise. I have been over the country you have traversed and was surprised you got over it so expeditiously.'  

Shortly before Christmas 1860, Bishop Goss again came to St John's on a visitation. The record this time is brief - there was no traditional reception of the Bishop at the door of the chapel due to the illness of Philip Orrell, but the records show that all was well; the vestments were found to be 'in good repair, very clean and orderly'. During his sermon the Bishop warned the congregation against drunkeness - probably very necessary in a popular market town which had at least a dozen inns and many more beer sellers at the time. 

By the beginning of 1862 Rev Orrell had spent some time considering his own situation at St John's where he had worked for 28 years. Now aged 62, he wrote to Bishop Goss concerning his future. However, the Bishop was himself feeling the effects of his own labours, as his letter shows:  

'Your letter has remained unanswered for some time as a consequence of my having had to remain quiet for a few weeks, not as much in consequence of a severe domestic affliction, as from the necessity of rest in the midst of labours rendered the more harassing from the absence of any adequate official help.   I am sorry to find that you begin to feel unequal to missionary duties but at the same time your long service entitles your request for retirement to be considerately treated. After midsummer, if you still remain of the same mind, I may be able to grant your request.'
 
Blackpool and the Church of the Sacred Heart
Rev William Johnson
The Cooksons of Layton Hawes Farm
 
The Rev Philip Orrell left St John's in September 1862 and retired to Ushaw College where he stayed until his death on 13 October 1866.  The successor appointed to St John's on the retirement of Philip Orrell was the Rev William Johnson, aged 31. His last appointment before arriving in Poulton had been as assistant at the Pro-Cathedral, Liverpool, to Provost Thomas Cookson.  It would seem that there was some difference of personality between the two priests of St John's - an impression gained from their letters and from Hewitson's description of Fr Johnson:
Father Johnson is a strong-framed solidly built gentleman; looks as if he would get very muscular and resolute if put under close training; has steady, cool, determined features; is somewhat bilious-hued; is steady-eyed, iron-grey-haired; has a strong will with a clear sense of personal dignity, is a man of energy and perseverance. Father Johnson understands music and can play the harmonium. He throws considerable activity into his sermons, but is not eloquent, thinking no doubt, that at Breck, plainness and strong sense, not melifluousness and poetical phrensy, are the things most needed.'
 
Joseph Gillow wrote of Father Johnson:
'He was of a musical turn and whilst in Poulton composed some songs, of which one had a long run in the music halls of Liverpool.'   In fact, Father Johnson composed music for several Masses and Benediction services. By 1862, his health was beginning to suffer through over work in Liverpool and he was removed to the chapel in Poulton where he was to stay for 17 years.
 
Bishop Goss again visited St John's in 1864, on 6 September and 7 September. He arrived at the Breck station - at that time standing at the bottom of the Breck very near to the chapel. He and his companions arrived on the 10 am train from Fleetwood, having completed the visitation there. They were met at the station by Rev William Johnson and Canon Wallwork of Liverpool   The visitation began officially when the Bishop was met traditionally at the church porch at 7 pm by the Rev Johnson. The congregation that evening was 'numerous' and in his sermon the Bishop spoke of the duty of parents not only to send, but also to accompany, their children to church. He reminded them too of their duty to contribute to the Diocesan collections which had averaged the previous year 4 shillings per head. He also stressed the duty of the congregation to contribute to the decent support of their priest.   Only a brief report survives of this visit, but the Bishop recommended that three altar stones should be destroyed, and this was done the following day, the broken pieces being buried in the garden of the chapel.
 
Having completed his visitation to St John's Bishop Goss travelled on to Blackpool the following day, and he arrived at the Presbytery of the Sacred Heart 'having been brought in a private conveyance from Poulton by the Rev Johnson and Canon Wallwork'   On each of his visits to the Blackpool church, the Bishop would meet wBLACKPOOL LARGE 1840ith members of a local family - the Cooksons. At the beginning of the 19th Century, Robert and Helen Cookson had lived at Layton Hawes Farm, an extensive property of 500 acres which stood on the borders of the townships of Lytham and Marton. The land where the Cooksons once farmed is now the site of Blackpool airport, but the old farmhouse can still be seen on certain photographs taken of the air pageant which was held there in 1909.  
An early mention of the family occurs in Thornber's book: in June 1833 a terrible storm blew up and 'Mr Cookson of the Hawes Farm affirmed that damage was done upon his fields alone of £150'.   Robert and Helen had at least 10 children between the years of 1801 and 1822, all baptised in the church of St Peter, Lytham. The eldest son, born in 1803 was Thomas. He went to Ushaw in 1816 where he was ordained and appointed Prefect General in 1828. Later he became a professor there and he was elected Vice President of the college. Three years after this, Thomas was appointed to take charge of the new church of St Augustine, Preston. Some years later he was transferred to the Pro-Cathedral in Liverpool and was appointed Canon and Provost of the Cathedral.  
 
Thomas nearly rose to even greater heights in the Liverpool Diocese. Bishop Sharples, co-adjutor of Bishop Brown, first Bishop of Liverpool, had died in August 1850 and Dr Brown began to look for a successor. Provost Cookson, the head of his new Chapter, a former Vice-President and Professor at Ushaw, appeared to have the necessary qualities and Dr Brown began to extol Provost Cookson's virtues, hoping to gain the appointment of a man of his own choice. Forty-five of the clergy supported the Bishop by sending a memorial to Cardinal Wiseman asking him to second Dr Brown's nomination. At a chapter meeting in Liverpool in February 1853, three candidates were selected, but the final recommendation to Rome lay with Cardinal Wiseman who despite the support for Provost Cookson, approved the nomination of Alexander Goss, the Vice-President of St Edward's College in Liverpool. Canon Cookson later became Vicar General to Bishop Goss.
 
The five Cookson sisters never married and they lived in Blackpool for many years. By 1851, Helen, Teresa and Margaret were living at No 1 Belle Vue Square, at the end of the Strand, in Blackpool. The sisters advertised in the town Directory that they had 'suites of rooms to let'. As will be seen later, the sisters were instrumental in the very beginnings of the school which was to become Layton Hill Convent.  
 
Richard Cookson was the brother who took over the family farm as the eldest son Thomas had entered the priesthood and he came to represent a mixture of Church and Town. In the farmhouse at Layton Hawes was a private oratory. Records suggest that Bishop Goss was very concerned about the large number of private chapels in the Diocese at the time. He considered it would be a better example if the more affluent members of the Catholic communities were to be publicly seen attending church and receiving Holy Communion. By attending private chapels on a regular basis, they were also missing sermons, pastoral letters and collections.  
 
However, the private oratory at Layton Hawes kept its licence. It was used by visiting priests who stayed at the house, including of course, Provost Cookson himself, and the house was some distance from the nearest church. The Bishop would have been quite familiar with the isolated farmhouse - in 1860 during the visitation to the churches of the Fylde coast, the Bishop recorded in his diary how he had walked with Richard Cookson to Blackpool from Layton Hawes. Richard seems to have played an important role in the development of the seaside town. It is reported that he became a Director of the Blackpool Pier Company. The first pier in the town (the North pier) was opened on 23 May 1863 and was an immediate success bringing in high dividends for its shareholders. One can imagine that Richard was keen for Alexander Goss to see this important venture with which he was involved and the Bishop's visit in 1864 provided a good opportunity. In his diary for 9 September the Bishop recorded how, after dinner, he:
'Walked out to see the improvements in the town and the site of the new park at the north end the outline of which was formed'.  
 
Presumably he was referring to the recently developed Claremont Park Estate which was taking shape on the front between Cocker Square and Gynn Square.
 
The following day, he took time to visit the most recent addition to Blackpools attractions. At 11 o'clock, the diary records:  'having had a walk on the pier, he was fetched by Mr Richard Cookson of Layton Hawse, where he had dinner'.
A visit to the churches on the Fylde coast must have provided a pleasant interlude and an opportunity to get away from the dirty industrial towns which made up a large part of the Diocese.
 
The characteristics which Hewitson had ascribed to Father Johnson -'strong will, energy and perseverance'- were becoming apparent; problems were developing in the quiet rural community of Poulton. In February 1865 Bishop Goss wrote to Rev Johnson of the   'great pain that any misunderstanding should have arisen in the congregation in Poulton; such occurrences are always to be deplored'. 
In a letter to Provost Cookson, Bishop Goss outlined the causes of the discontent in the congregation regarding Rev Johnson: 'He has doubled the bench rents.'
On this matter, the Bishop wrote to Rev Johnson:  'Though your charges are not so high as in Blackpool, they are higher than those of several neighbouring missions. Before  raising the bench rents I think it would have been a more prudent course to have conferred with your neighbouring Brethren'. A further complaint was dealt with: 'He has stood at the door of the mission to receive admission money.'  
 
This action brought forth a stronger condemnation from the Bishop: 'I cannot approve, on the contrary I disapprove, of your standing at the door as you acknowledge to have done on several Sundays. It is beneath the dignity of a priest to collect money there.' 
 
The manner of Rev Johnson's sermons also came in for scrutiny; the Bishop wrote:   'I am now informed by a deputation from Poulton that on Trinity Sunday you spoke in the church of 'the wicked man who goes to Blackpool and takes others with him' and on the second Sunday after Pentecost you said words to this affect, that 'people who go to Blackpool and have a comfortable living, have their heaven here, but 1 tell you now as I have told you before, they will go to hell.' I wish to know if any of this be true.'
 
The Rev Johnson also found difficulty with the Sunday School, Bishop Goss reported:   'He complained that the Sunday School in the hayloft had become a nuisance and that the Catechism is taught in the chapel. I have commanded him if possible to make some arrangements for the Sunday School, for even if the school was only in a loft, it may seem a retrogression to discontinue it.'
Finally Bishop Goss commented in June of that year:  'I think that by forbearance and kindness the wound may be healed and peace restored in the congregation.'  
But in December 1865, only 6 months later, it seems that the breach was not yet completely healed as the Bishop was writing to Rev Johnson regarding a possible move by him from Poulton to Cottam:'As you have expressed yourself indifferent to remaining at Poulton or going to Cottam' (where the priest was ill and unable to continue) 'I thank you for having placed your services at my disposal.'  
 
In July of the following year, the Bishop arrived again in Poulton and was met at the station in a 'covered conveyance' by Rev Johnson. Some members of the congregation were still dissatisfied with the situation and the Bishop, together with Provost Cookson, had to set aside time to meet-a deputation. Presumably the matter was settled amicably, as Rev Johnson remained at St John's for a further 13 years.  
 
During the visit, Canon Wallwork who had friends on the congregation in Poulton, came to dinner to the presbytery. On 31 July, Rev Johnson accompanied the Bishop to the Willows, Kirkham. While he was there, the Bishop was given an oil stock by Father Hines to give to the mission in Castletown, Isle of Man; this was to be taken together with a silver pyx on loan from Poulton when the Bishop next visited the island. At the end of his Kirkham visit the Bishop called on Mr and Mrs Westby of Mowbreck Hall and from there travelled to Blackpool where he received several priests from the area and called on the Misses Cookson. A few days later, Rev Johnson came in his gig from Poulton and drove the Bishop back to St John's where he dined with local priests. The Bishop left for Preston a few days later, but was soon back in Blackpool to bless the new bells hung in Sacred Heart. 
 
From Blackpool, he travelled to Preston and then to Lytham. The advent of the railway system to the Fylde coast must have made travelling more comfortable on these long journeys around the Diocese. Ten years earlier, in 1856, Bishop Goss' diaries record a journey he had made from Great Eccleston:
 
'The Bishop, after a dreary ride through moss land in Mr Bushell's carriage, arrived for evening service at the mission of Newhouse near Broughton.'
 
The Sunday School at St John's
Catholic Schools in the Fylde
The Opening of St John's School
The Developing School

The first mention of a school at St John's is in the visitation of 1855. This was not the day school, it was to be another 13 years before that was built, but the Sunday School which was run by a Catholic master with the help of five other members of the congregation.  According to the local historian, John Porter, writing in 1876 in his book 'The History of the Fylde',
'A loft over an outbuilding facing the priest's house received the Catholic children of the parish for educational purposes'
 
In 1828, stables were built near the church, with the storage loft above and it was in this rather uncomfortable room that the children would meet on Sundays. The school catered for 60 children under 14 and two meetings were held, one in the morning between 9 o'clock and 10, the second in the afternoon from 1 o'clock to 2.30 pm.  Ten years later, this same Sunday School was to be a point of contention between Rev Johnson and Bishop Goss, it seems that the priest considered it to be unnecessary and a nuisance. It is ironic therefore, that it was during the early years of Rev Johnson's time at St John's that a great upsurge took place in the national concern for education and it fell to him to oversee the financing, building and organisation of the first Catholic day school in Poulton. As yet, no records have come to light which refer to this massive programme which the priest and congregation embarked upon in the mid-1860s. All that remains is a comment by the journalist Hewitson who was obviously impressed by the vigour with which Rev Johnson tackled the project.
'He has taken a most praiseworthy part in promoting the cause of education in his mission. When he came to Breck there was no school in connection with the chapel; now there is an excellent one, and an important addition to it, equal in size to a small country school is being made'.  
 
The greater tolerance which had developed during the 18th Century had allowed a few small Catholic schools to open and these provided an elementary education. There was virtually no national administrative machine at the time to run a countrywide school system and the Government channelled what money there was for education through the voluntary organisations which had already begun to build and staff schools; mainly the Catholic, Anglican and Non-Conformist churches.
 
A survey by a Select Committee in 1835 gave the total number of Catholic schools as 86 day schools, 62 Sunday schools and 1 infant school. By 1840 a concentrated effort had been made to provide schools for Catholic children and in 1847 the Catholic Poor School Committee was established to receive the grants from the Committee of the Privy Council for Education, alongside the National Society, which organised Anglican schools and the British and Foreign Schools Society, which was responsible for Non-Conformist schools. 
 
The two main considerations for the Catholic church at that time were the provision of primary education and the training of teachers. By 1843, over 230 day schools had been organised and with the Sunday Schools, they were catering for over 38,000 Catholic children. But the number of Catholic children who were not receiving education was estimated to be about 102,000.  It became evident that Government action would be needed to create a national system of education and argument flourished both inside and outside Parliament as to whether the many voluntary schools run by the churches should be retained alongside a Government sponsored system of education and, if so, should such schools receive money from the rates.
 
It was decided to allow the voluntary organisations a period of grace during which they would be given grants to help them provide school places for their children. After this time had elapsed, School Boards were to be set up and schools would be built in areas where the churches had not been able to provide sufficient places. There now began an unparalleled period of school building by both Catholic and Anglican Authorities. It was from this Government decision to retain and support the voluntary schools that our present day dual system of education stems.
 
In 1852 it was decided to set up the Catholic Inspectorate of Religious Instruction on a Diocesan basis with a system of prizes and awards. The Catholic Poor Schools Committee offered to finance the scheme. Four years later, the plan came into operation with a syllabus of religious instruction for pupil teachers, a rota of diocesan specialists and two ecclesiastical inspectors appointed by the Bishop and financed by the Committee.   The ecclesiastical inspectors were each allocated a number of schools to visit in an area. After each inspection, detailed reports were written for the Bishop. One such report still exists written by an inspector whose area covered part of Preston and the small Catholic community of Blackpool. His report includes the following comments: 'The only mission at Blackpool is served by two fathers. A mixed poor school nearby is taught by the sisters of the Holy Child Jesus who reside in a convent at Layton Hill about 2½ miles from Blackpool and who conduct there a convent school attended by between 30 and 40 pupils.'  
 
The inspector showed his concern for the distance some of the children had to travel each day to and from school, but he seems to have been unaware of the educational situation which existed in the immediate vicinity of his area, when he wrote the following:  'Some-of the Catholics of the Blackpool mission will be distant about three miles from their church and bordering on the missions of Fleetwood, Lytham, Poulton or Westby. Whether any of the Catholics so remote have children of school age I am ignorant.'
 
In fact the Catholic school in Poulton had been in existence for nine years when this report was written in 1877. Moreover, Poulton was one of the last of the local Fylde Villages to provide a day school for its Catholic children - by 1877, Kirkham, Lytham and Fleetwood had had primary schools for at least 20 years. The school in Poulton had been run, from its beginning in 1868, by the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus. The Sisters had arrived in Blackpool on the advice of Father Bampton of the Sacred Heart, from their boarding school in Rupert House, Liverpool, in 1856. On first arriving in Blackpool, they stayed with the Misses Cookson who owned a large house situated near Queen's Square with 'suites of rooms to let'. Their eldest brother Thomas was Provost of Liverpool and a second brother, Richard, farmed the family estate at Layton Hawes Farm, where the family had a private chapel.
 
Mother Agatha taught in Fr Bampton's poor school which was held in a cottage on Talbot Road. However, the Sisters had brought 12 pupils with them from Liverpool and it was necessary for suitable accommodation to be provided for them, so a small boarding school was set up in Queen's Square. Within a few years, the numbers in the boarding school had doubled and the accommodation in Queen's Square was too cramped. With the blessing of Bishop Goss, the Sisters with their school took over Raikes Hall in Layton in 1860. Raikes Hall at that time was an isolated old house standing in fields. Ten years later, the numbers in the school had again risen and a new school was purpose-built in the fields on Layton Hill, at that time some distance from the town, wild and bleak, looking across to the sea. In 1868, Mother Agatha and other nuns from the Blackpool community began the running of the new church school in Poulton, which had just opened.
 
From information.supplied by the archivist of the Order, the history of the beginning of the school can be traced.  The Sisters had to travel to and from Poulton by rail which must have been an uncomfortable and tedious journey. Although at the time Poulton Station was very close to St John's school, being at the bottom of the Breck on Station Road, the station at Layton, then known as Bispham Station, would have meant a long cold walk on dark winter nights across wind-swept fields back to the Convent on Layton Hill. 
 
In 1876, a crisis loomed for Fr Johnson at St John's School. Mother Bernadine, head teacher of the school was ill and in the early part of 1877 she died. Mother Agatha was absent also from St John's as she was preparing for the examination for the Teachers' Certificate. These two events together took their toll of the little school and standards began to fall, a state of affairs which caused great distress to the Convent community in Blackpool. The Sisters appealed to the General Council for a replacement to be sent to the Convent who could take over the post left by the death of Mother Bernadine. The reply sent by the General Council was not helpful. there were no new sisters who could be sent to Layton Hill, the vacancy would have to be filled from the Sisters already there; the matter was for the local community itself to resolve. However, it was to prove impossible to fill the post; the sisters wrote again to the General Council, stressing the fact that it would require 'an energetic and experienced teacher' to restore the Poulton school to its original standards - there was no-one free or eligible to fill the vacancy in the local community.
 
It was considered that to employ a secular teacher was not the answer to the difficulty and the sisters tried desperately to find a solution. It was however finally decided that with the staff they had it was impossible to conduct the Poulton school efficiently and they reluctantly informed Father Johnson that they would be obliged to resign from his school.
 
The Catholic Diocesan Directory of 1885 gives a few details about the school at St John's. At that time, it catered for a total Catholic population of about 420 and provided accommodation for 177 children. The estimated average attendance, based on Board of Education statistics which used the fraction of 1/6th of the population as being of school age, should have reached about 70, but in fact the real average attendance at that time was 34. There were 46 children on the school roles and they brought to the school an annual grant of £24.14.0d, an average figure per head of 14/6d - a sum assessed on the annual school inspection which took place every February.
 
During the 19th Century, there were several important developments made in the financial arrangements for the running of schools. In 1846, a training and career structure for teachers was established; elementary school children who showed promise could start as pupil teachers at 13, helping to teach younger children and at the same time receiving instruction from the head teacher. In reports on Catholic schools in the Fylde, pupil teachers were at work in the schools in Lytham, Kirkham and Fleetwood during the 1860s. After a few years as pupil teachers, they could attend training colleges and so become certificated teachers to return to work in the elementary schools. In 1862, the principle of 'payment by results' was introduced, along with cutbacks in teacher training, in order to cut the sharply rising costs of education. The grants paid to schools were limited to passes in basic subjects such as reading, writing and arithmetic. In the reports written on the local Catholic schools by the visiting inspectors, mention is always made of these subjects, together with the standard of handwriting and behaviour. From 1867, history, geography and geometry were made grant earning subjects and this development is reflected in the inspectors' reports - some teachers experienced difficulty in introducing these new subjects to their classes. It was not until some years later that languages and some science subjects were added to the curriculum.
 
On 25 July 1874, Rev Johnson received a letter from the Education Secretary in London regarding the setting up of a Board School in Poulton. The school at St John's had been opened in 1868 with accommodation for 177 pupils; as Rev Johnson pointed out in his reply to the Board, the new school could cater for all but 17 children and therefore the building of a Board School was certainly not justified from the point of view of a shortage of school places. Moreover, the siting of the school was quite central, being 890 yards from the northern boundary and 1710 yards from the southern boundary, whereas the market itself was 783 yards from the town's southern boundary and 1817 from the northern. He ended his letter:  'I trust too that my Lords will see that it would be a great hardship to the R Catholics of this District, if after having provided this accommodation, a School Board should be forced upon them.'  When it reached Whitehall, Rev Johnson's letter was circulated to all the relevant departments, and on its travels through the various offices of the Education Board, it gradually collected comments, which culminated in one which must have gladdened the priest's heart when he read it:   'In view of this letter and the wishes of the ratepayers already expressed, the decision of the Department will be against setting up a Board School.'
 
During the second half of the 19th Century, many small, privately run schools opened in Poulton, only to flourish briefly then disappear, their only epitaph a listing in the relevant town directory. These schools were set up in the home of the head teacher and many have come and gone in the town. Three schools only remain of those which existed in 19th Century Poulton - Baines School, once the town's Free School, until it was reopened and renamed in 1882, the school run by the Anglican Church, built by public subscription and opened in 1838 and the School at St John's opened in 1868.  The few inspectors' reports which are available illustrate the progress of the little school through the first half of the 20th Century. But more can be gleaned-from them than simply the comments which they carry, for the reports are also a record of the view of society at that time about the purposes of education and the criteria by which a school and its teachers were to be judged.
 
In 1904, a statement of the aims of elementary education was published. The purpose of the elementary school was to form and strengthen the character and develop the intelligence of the children; to train the children carefully in habits of observation and clear reasoning; to give them power over language as an instrument of thought and expression, and, while making them conscious of the limitations of their knowledge, develop a taste for good reading and thoughtful study. Teachers should implant habits of industry, self-control and courageous perseverance in the face of difficulties; foster a strong respect for duty; develop an instinct for fair play and loyalty and produce upright and useful members of society and worthy sons and daughters of their country. The reports on the school written in 1923 and again five years later both reflect this concern with mastering facts and the ability to perform when required.

In 1921, the headmistress had been absent from school due to illness and later that year she left the post. In 1923, the children were found to be 'in good order and working steadily'. The teacher's absence had meant that one particular class, soon to be leaving school, were somewhat behind with their arithmetic 'and responded slowly when questioned orally'   The report ended:'The ground adjacent to the school building might with advantage be kept in a tidier condition'.  
 
About 4 years later, the school had yet another change of head teacher. The infant teacher had left in December 1927 and still had not been replaced three months later at the time of the next annual inspection. The staffing problems at the time must have been very difficult - the headmistress was taking standards 2 to 7 herself, the remaining teacher taking the infants and standard 1. The report was full of praise for the two teachers who were labouring in difficult circumstances: 'The children are exceptionally clean and neat in appearance and are alert and well-behaved. The lessons of the older scholars in reading, written and memory exercises are very well done. Responses and effort in all the standards are good. The little children (the infants) are bright and happy. They are learning to read and speak nicely.'
 
In 1931, an important report on primary education was published by the Board of Education, which did much to shape the future development of primary schools. From that time on, the primary curriculum was to consist not only of lessons to be mastered, but also of new and interesting experiences for the children to explore; it was to appeal less to passive obedience and more to the children's imagination; it would rely less on mass instruction and more on the encouragement of individual and group work. The inspectors' report on St John's for 1931 shows a much deeper understanding of the aims of education for young children: 'The schemes of work and methods of instruction are modern in conception. The children soon acquire valuable habits of self-help and they are able to work largely on their own account.
 
The children used pewter and leather for craft work and did some book binding. A comment by the inspector on the small plot of land used by the children for their gardening classes said 'Its position and the nature of the soil make it quite unsuitable for its purpose.' The report went on to suggest that provision should be made for the senior classes to be instructed in Handicrafts or Domestic subjects. On its travels round the Board of Education, the suggestion was welcomed - later a decision was made 'to supply a bench and set of tools for woodwork'. Woodwork was taught to the senior boys by the headmistress, Miss Hughes.
 
The next report of the school inspectors is from 1936 and was much concerned with the physical state of the building: 'The three classes occupy two rooms, the work of the two classes of younger children is handicapped by this close proximity, separated only by a short screen.'  The old coal fires came in for criticism - on the day of the inspection the temperature was very low.   The lighting was mainly by natural day light, but it was hoped that the insertion of frosted glass would improve matters. The report concluded:  'The school has a very good tone, the children are well-mannered and cheerful, and apply themselves wholeheartedly to their work.'
 
Members of the congregation of St John's remember the old school building well. It was originally built as one long room and was divided into individual rooms by large cupboards. The whole school was heated by two coal fires - a system which was never very efficient. The problems of the poor heating were highlighted in the report of 1915:
'The heating which is by means of open fire places of an old type does not appear to be satisfactory. On 22 February the temperature at 9.45 am was only 44° and the highest temperature reached during the day was only 51 degrees.
But, in spite of such hardships, the school is remembered for the happy times. In one classroom was a large oven in which pies would be heated up for dinnertime by children who travelled too far to be able to return home at mid-day. After Mass on cold dark winter mornings, the children would gather the tiny infants chairs up to the enormous fire guards which protected them from the open fires, and eat their breakfast sandwiches with their flasks of hot drinks beside them.
 
At Christmas time, an enormous pudding was made to which everyone contributed. The mixture would be put into basins and cooked in the school boiler. Just before the beginning of the Christmas holidays all the children would sit down to eat the pudding they had made.  Visitors, teachers and priests all added vital elements to the life of the school. The inspectors like Mr Stomestreet of Fleetwood, the doctors and nurses such as Dr Batty and Nurse Proctor checking on the children's health, Father Noah who tested the children on the Catechism; Miss Mulligan who taught the juniors while Miss White taught the infants, head teachers such as Mrs Bamber, Miss McMahon, Miss Dean, Miss Hughes and Miss Piper, the latter with a fund of memories and anecdotes about her years as headmistress from 1936 to 1962 when the new school opened.
 
It was Fr Prescott who arranged for the playground area to be concreted; the report of 1936 describes the situation:
 
'The surface of the playground renders Physical Training almost impossible except in very dry weather.' Fr Bamber, on his first brief stay at St John's is remembered during the hard winter of 1947 joining in snowball fights with the children. Fr O'Sullivan set about reorganising the heating arrangements in the school and central heating was installed in place of the old coal fires. About this time, a separate staff toilet was built; previously teachers had shared the facilities with the children.   In 1962, a new school building was completed and the younger children of St John's left the old building for the last time to move across the grass to the new-accommodation. Older pupils were offered places in the large new secondary school which had recently opened in Fleetwood - Cardinal Allen.
 
 
Rev Thomas Grimes
Jubilee Celebrations
The End of the First Church of St John
The Opening of the New Church Building
The Bell and the Vestment
 
After the retirement of Rev Johnson to Lydiate in 1879, St John's was served by two priests - Rev Roger Arrowsmith who was at the church from 1879 until his retirement in 1885, and Rev Thomas Grimes who spent fifteen years in Poulton, retiring in 1900, to be followed by Rev William Vaughan.  Two years after Rev Grimes' arrival in Poulton, the country saw one of the most lavish displays of national celebration ever known, held to commemorate the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria in the summer of 1887. In the spring of that year a committee had been set up of '40 principal residents of the neighbourhood' to organise the town's celebrations.  From contemporary reports in the 'Blackpool and Fleetwood Gazette' it seems that the whole population of Poulton must have turned out on that sunlit morning of Wednesday 21 June either to join in or just to watch the procession that assembled in the Market Square.

Immediately behind the leading band walked the clergy of Poulton's churches - Rev T Richardson of St Chad's, Rev T Grimes of St John's, Rev T Slevan of the Independents and Rev M P Gilbert of the Wesleyans. Behind them walked the organising committee, then the school children, dressed in their best clothes and waving banners and handkerchiefs, gathered in from the villages of Carleton, Hardhorn and Staining to join those from the Poulton schools. The procession walked round the town, stopping at various points to sing hymns and patriotic songs, before moving off in the afternoon - the older residents were treated to a celebration lunch, while all the children took part in games and entertainments.  As is ususal at a time of great national celebrations, the older members of the town were encouraged to reminisce about Poulton as it had been in their youth.

An article appeared in the 'Blackpool and Fleetwood Gazette' in which Mr T Lawrenson, who owned a shop in the Market Place and who himself had a vast collection of local history material, remembered the schools which had come and gone in Poulton over the years since Victoria's coronation 50 years before.  He, as well as the journalist Hewitson, was impressed with the school which had been built at St John's,  'Among the Roman Catholics too a splendid new school has been built and put on a proper basis. This was a good thing for this parish, for there are a great many Roman Catholics.'

The state of repair of the chapel building continued to be a source of concern. In 1885, Fr Grimes wrote to Liverpool for advice concerning the altar:
'I do not know whether it is acceptable to ask, but I do ask your Lordship's permission to paint and decorate the altar and the apse. It has been decorated before but it is many years since and it is now looking dirty and shabby, especially since the chapel has been coloured and painted. I have paid for the painting of the chapel inside and outside and for the painting of the outside of all the mission building. It will cost no great sum to decorate the altar because the area is so small. The workman tells me he thinks £15 will cover the expense.'

In 1887 permission was being requested to carry out repairs.  'I am anxious to do something before autumn to repair the damp in the west wall of the church. I have consulted with a practical workman and he tells me that the foundations must be drained before anything else is done. To do this may cost about £20. I have raised this amount by my sermon today.' report on the state of the recurring dampness in the property in 1888 described the house and chapel as being damp in several places: Various suggestions have been made from time to time to cure the damp in the fabric but all attempts have hitherto been ineffectual. The cellar was formally very wet but a drain has been cut from the cellar with an outlet down the fields into a brook or ditch. I think this will be sufficient to cure the problem.'

Two years later, a further problem had arisen, this time with the floor and again a letter was sent to Liverpool requesting permission to organise repairs. This time local help was forthcoming: 'One of my congregation, knowing that the church wants reflooring, and the wall which was replastered last year repainting, has kindly offered to pay all expenses. I think the proposed repair will be a great improvement to the church. It will be necessary during repairs to have Mass said in the school.'

The same year, Fr Grimes decided to propose drastic alterations to the house:
'I beg to submit the enclosed plan for your consideration. The presbytery at present is very cold and I think the proposed changes will be of every advantage. What I propose doing is to lengthen the present room which is only a kind of kitchen and make a passage thus cutting away all draughts through to the house from the church. The new floor I propose to board, thus adding to the warmth of the room. The cost will be £42 if undertaken at once, but if delayed until after Christmas the cost will be very much greater. I have the funds already in hand.'  

The useful life of the old chapel building was coming to an end. Several factors had contributed to its demise. The constant repairs which were needed to keep the building in reasonable condition were proving to be a heavy drain on the finances of priest and congregation. The growing congregation would soon require a larger building to accommodate it - the population of Poulton itself was growing as was that of its near neighbour, Blackpool.  There was also an external factor which was to prove to be a more subtle influence in the decision to build a new church - a change in public taste. Hewitson expressed the general attitude of his day when he wrote the following about St John's:

'The building has an antiquated, grizzly, uninteresting appearance; has nothing tasteful in its architecture, nothing pleasing in either its outlines or details; the walls, ceiling, windows, etc, are commonplace; the gallery at the entrance end has a poor look; there is nothing at all in the brick, mortar, wood and paint of the building which edifies us. The chapel ought to be pulled down and supplanted by one in harmony with the architecture of the age.'

This was a commonly held attitude at the time with the prevailing desire to enlarge and improve leading to major demolition and rebuilding projects for which the Victorian age is renowned. The Anglican parish church of St John in Blackpool, first erected in 1821, had no less than five major alterations and additions made to it before being demolished and rebuilt on the same site in 1877.  

The 19th Century was the age of church building and decoration, and a certain amount of controversy raged at the time over the differing architectural styles to be used in the building of new churches. As far as the Catholic church was concerned, the variety of opinion on the subject was deepened because of the conversion to Catholicism of one of the most influential architects of the time Augustus Welby Pugin. Pugin had been born in 1812 and brought up as an Anglican. He was trained by his father as a draughtsman and architect and on his conversion in 1835 he turned his considerable talent to the design of churches. He was a man of strong beliefs about style and taste and had a strong attachment to the Gothic style in church architecture and decoration. He died in 1852 and it was the family firm which was then run by his son which was responsible for the design of the new St John's.  

Report of the Laying of the Foundation Stone at St John's published in The Blackpool Gazette & News, 6 October 1911   Building had begun in August:  The present church has for some time been inadequate to accommodate the worshippers. The new edifice is situated on the south west side of the present building and provision is being made to seat three hundred persons.  A feature of the-church will be the uninterrupted views of the three altars - one on each side of the High Altar.  Messrs Smith Brothers of Burnley and Blackpool are the contractors and Messrs Pugin & Pugin of London and Liverpool are the architects. The building which is in the Gothic style, will cost about £4,000.  
 
Report of the Official Opening of the New Building of  St John's in
The Gazette & News, Tuesday 3 September 1912

The stone-laying ceremony being favoured with fine weather attracted a large gathering and amongst the priests present were Msgr Gillow of Kirkham, Dean O'Rielly of Lytham, Fr Bamber of Thornton, Fr Blundell of St Kentigern's, Blackpool, and Fr Vaughan, the resident priest at Breck.
The new building was described as: 'An attractive Gothic building of Runcorn red stone. The altars are the work of Messrs Boulton of Cheltenham, beautifully executed in white Devonshire Seeton stone.   The first services were held on Sunday, being the Feast of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There was a first Mass and general communion at 8.00 am and a last Mass at 10.30 am when there was an address by the Archbishop of Liverpool.    In the evening, the service was conducted by the Rev R J Vaughan and was followed by Pontifical Benediction'.

There are two items of special interest belonging to St John's; both have very uncertain histories and it is possible that the whole truth about each of them will never be known.    Because of the upheavals which took place at various times - the uprising in 1745, the removal of the Catholic congregation from Singleton to Poulton in 1812 - several pieces of church furniture and plate long associated with the area have found their way into other parts of the Fylde and beyond. Records of such movement often rely on tradition and hearsay and nowadays may be difficult to trace and substantiate.

Modern reports of the whereabouts of such articles are often based on the writings of older local historians who have themselves been proved inaccurate. An example of this is Thornber's account of the font in St John's parish church in Blackpool which he says came from the Catholic chapel of Singleton, a claim which is repeated in Fishwick's History of Bispham. A more reliable version is given by Mr Joseph Gillow in Vol 16 published by the Catholic Record Society, together with details of other objects from Singleton. One item at St John's is a small bell, inscribed 'Ralph Robinson me fecit 1741'.
stjbell
Unfortunately, the bell is cracked, but it must have an interesting history. It has become associated over the years with a tradition that the Squire of Singleton had it buried about 1812 when he refused to renew the lease on the chapel land. The name on the bell certainly is that of a local Singleton family, but as yet, no particular reason for the date of the bell's manufacture is apparent. The tradition continues, that the bell was dug up and taken to the new church where it was used at every service. This is a story which occurs occasionally where a bell appears to have an uncertain history and therefore, should be considered possibly as unreliable, though intriguing.

The second item is even more fascinating, leading the imagination far back into the history of the church. It is a chasuble, still worn for special services, dating from the time of Cardinal Allen. Its history is uncertain; the only written record which has come to light so far, which appears to record its existence with any authority is in Dom Blundell's book 'Old Catholic Lancashire' in which he transcribes a report which appeared in the 1938 Directory for the Lancaster Diocese. He records the tradition that 'about 90 years ago' (ie circa 1840), the Vicar of the Protestant Church 'handed it over' to the Catholic priest.

The account does not specify which Protestant Church, but we must assume this refers to St Chad's. To date, no other reference has been found of the history of-this vestment. However, a search through old documents has revealed an entry in a list of church vestments written by Rev R Brown soon after he arrived at St John's. The handwritten record is not easy to read as it has been altered by both Rev Orrell and Rev Johnson. The entry appears to refer to a vestment 'very old with grotesque figures'. This list of vestments and other possessions of the church, written in 1833, is the earliest so far discovered and may be the only document from that time which refers to the chasuble. If the entry is correctly interpreted, it may be taken to substantiate the tradition that the vestment was at St John's soon after the church was built.

Sometime during the 1930s, black and white photographs of the vestment were sent to the Victoria and Albert Museum in the hope that it could be dated. The Museum authorities replied that it is obviously difficult to date an object from photographs alone with any accuracy, but that the vestment appeared to be from the early 16th Century, with English embroidery. Except for relining, the chasuble has never been restored or renovated.
PRIESTS AT THE CHURCH OF
ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST
Rev R Platt 1814-1831
Rev R Brown 1831-1833
Rev W Knight 1833-1834
Rev H Newsham 1834-1834
Rev P Orrell 1834-1862
Rev W Johnson 1862-1879
Rev R Arrowsmith 1879-1885
Rev T Grimes 1885-1900
Canon W Vaughan 1900-1935
Rev T Harker 1935-1942
Rev J Prescott 1942-1946
Rev J Bamber 1945-1946
Rev H Gillett 1946-1951
Rev D Ryan 1946-1948
Rev G Horrocks 1948-1949
Rev R Kershaw 1949-1950
Rev T Geary 1950-1951
Rev P O'Sullivan 1951-1958
Rev J Harrison 1957-1958
Rev J Bamber 1958-1982
Rev R Ward 1981-1982
Rev E Mitchell 1982-1990
Rev G Muir 1990
Many people have helped in the compiling of this account and my grateful thanks are due to the following:

Canon Edward Mitchell, Parish Priest of St John's for his untiring interest, encouragement and help
Bishop B C Foley, former Bishop of Lancaster
Fr John Gibson, Bishop's Secretary, Diocese of Lancaster
Mgr James Hook Staff of the Archdiocese of Liverpool
Sister Winifred Wickens, archivist of the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus, Mayfield, Sussex
Staff of Lancashire and Liverpool Record Offices
Staff of Lancashire Local Studies Library, Preston and of Poulton Library
Mr J Singleton of Kirkham
Mr J Hilton of the North West Catholic History Society
Miss Piper, Mr & Mrs Moran, for their reminiscences of school and church
Mr A J Saynor for the advice and guidance given during the research and writing of this account
Mr Michael Burton, Director of Wyre Business Agency Ltd., Copse Road, Fleetwood, and his staff
Mr M Ramsbottom, Wyre District Local Studies Librarian, for running the course which provided me with the initial idea.