|
A Brief History of St.
Augustine's Church
Harehills in 1890 was almost a sheer expanse of agricultural
land-a mere place-name on the outskirts of Leeds.
Harehills Road was then a mere cart track;
Ashley Road a bridle path and Compton Road a footpath skirted
by a beck. Foundry Lane meandered through the fields to Seacroft.
|
The nearest Catholic church was St. Patrick’s, but
within a few years of the opening of St. Patrick's, the
Parish began to extend towards Harehills in the North,
and Crossgates in the East. When the need of a school
at Harehills became urgent and children were in danger
of losing the Faith, the Canon A. J. Collingwood, Vicar
General of the Diocese seized the opportunity of fulfilling
a long cherished ambition-to build a Church and School
dedicated to the Apostle of England.
|
|
St. Augustine's School was the first of the Parish
buildings to be erected, thus making sure from the outset that
our children received a Catholic education. On 1st October 1897,
Mass was said for the first time in the School Chapel. The school
building was completed 18 months later and was solemnly opened
on 10th April 1899 with 53 children attending the school.
|
St. Augustine's continued to be served from St. Patrick's
and didn’t become independent until July 1905, when
it became a Mission in its own right. Fr. James Coffey,
Assistant-Priest at St. Thomas's, Goole (and a native
of Tipperary) became the first Parish Priest.
|
|
Due to the rapid growth of immigrant families
from Ireland settling in the area, the school was too small
to accommodate the growing number of children in need of a Catholic
education. Initially Fr. Coffey’s application to Leeds
City Council to extend the school was refused because they wanted
to fill the vacant places in the local council school. As this
was a denial of the rights of parents, which the Education Act
of 1902 ostensibly protected, the challenge was taken up and
a Parents' deputation waited upon the Committee and later on
the City Council.Eventually, after a heated debate, the Council
approved of the extension. Fr. Coffey had also negotiated a
site fronting Harehills Road for a Church.
|
The Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury a temporary
structure of timber and corrugated iron, on a brick foundation
was opened in 1908, and later extended.
|
|
After the first War, the new Presbytery at the
side of the Church was built as a memorial to the young men
of the Parish who had fallen on active service, and .the terrace
house which Fr. Coffey occupied in Roundhay Road, became a Convent
for the Sisters who taught at the School.
Fr. Coffey died in November, 1929, and was succeeded
by the Rev. Patrick Leonard.
|
|
From the outset Fr. Leonard concentrated on plans for
the building of a bigger Church, and had the consolation
of seeing the foundation stone laid by Dr. Shine, Bishop
of Middlesborough, in October, 1935. The church was completed
in 1936 and cost £21,000. It was solemnly opened
by Dr. Poskitt, in December 1936, in the presence of His
Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Downey, Archbishop of Liverpool.
|
Extract from the "Architect.
& Building News"-18th June, 1937
The new Roman Catholic Church of St. Augustine's, stands at
the junction of Harehills Road and Milan Road, and replaces
the old temporary structure of wood and corrugated iron. The
increasing needs of the Parish and the need for increased accommodation
for worshippers, led to the erection of the new building which
consists of a Church seating 800 people, a Lady Chapel, two
small side Chapels, Baptistry, and Clergy and Choir Sacristies.
|
The Church has been designed so that all worshippers
may have a clear and unobstructed view of the High Altar
which is raised well above the level of the nave floor.
A central aisle and two side aisles give ample access
and afford adequate processional ways. A stepped gallery
is provided at the West end of the nave, reached by a
staircase adjoining the main entrance in Harehills Road.
|
|
|
Externally, the building, without following traditional
lines, expresses its purpose successfully. Brick has been
used throughout as a facing, the plain walls being relieved
only by the long narrow windows and V -shaped buttresses
between them. The roof is covered with Roman tiles of
bold and distinctive character. The recessed main entrance
from Harehills Road is approached by a wide flight of
steps and on a corbel immediately over the main entrance
is a stone figure of St. Augustine, his hand raised in
Benediction.
|
|
New Parish Boundaries
Three years later, in 1939 due to the great housing developments
then taking place in the Gipton area, part of the Parish was
cut off and was incorporated in the new parish of St. Nicholas,
Gipton while another portion at the Roundhay end of the parish,
became part of the: Parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Consecration of the Church on
19th June 1952
When the debt of new church was fully paid for
by the parish, The Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury, was
solemnly consecrated by His Lordship Bishop Heenan, the bishop
of Leeds, with forty five priests in attendance at the ceremony.
(subsequently Cardinal Heenan.)
|
“The Consecration
of St. Augustine's Church, in June, 1952, was the fulfilment
of a long cherished hope, a fitting climax to work begun
55 years ago and sustained throughout the years by the
ardent faith of a united people.” Fr.Charles
H. O’Flaherty(parish priest)
|
|
For a more detailed history see centenary
book »
LIST OF CLERGY WHO HAVE SERVED
IN THE PARISH
|
Parish Priests
|
From
|
To
|
Died
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Fr. James Coffey
|
1905
|
1929
|
24th Nov 1929
|
|
Fr. Patrick Leonard
|
1929
|
1942
|
21st Dec 1942
|
|
Fr. Charles H. O’Flaherty
|
1942
|
1956
|
3rd July 1985
|
|
Fr. John Adrian Craig
|
1956
|
1963
|
3rd Dec 1963
|
|
Fr. Michael V. O’Donavan
|
1963
|
1970
|
29th Sept 1970
|
|
Cannon Charles Murray
|
1970
|
1981
|
24th Jan 1988
|
|
Monsignor Gerard P. Spelman
|
1983
|
1989
|
18th March 1990
|
|
Fr. Sean Durcan
|
1989
|
1996
|
|
|
Fr. Michael Anthony Kelly
|
1996
|
2010
|
|
|
Fr. Anthony Jackson
|
2010
|
2012 |
|
|
Curates
|
From
|
To
|
Died
|
|
Fr. Andrew Kelleher
|
1920
|
1926
|
5th July 1961
|
|
Fr. Patrick F. Scannell
|
1926
|
1936
|
22nd Feb 1962
|
|
Fr. Bernard Blackburn
|
1935
|
1936
|
10th Sept 1965
|
|
Fr. Francis Moverley
|
1936
|
1943
|
12th Nov 1985
|
|
Fr. Joseph Dolan
|
1936
|
1942
|
|
|
Fr. Patrick J. Reeves
|
1942
|
1948
|
8th August 1982
|
|
Fr. Paul Hennelly
|
1943
|
1951
|
29th August 1976
|
|
Fr. Anthony Cluderay
|
1948
|
1951
|
19th August 1989
|
|
Fr. Eugene Daly
|
1951
|
1954
|
24th March 1979
|
|
Fr. Peter Walmsley
|
1951
|
1954
|
2nd August 1998
|
|
Fr. Bernard Battle
|
1954
|
1955
|
|
|
Fr. Gerald P Spelman
|
1955
|
1960
|
18th March 1990
|
|
Fr. Edward. McSweeney
|
1957
|
1962
|
|
|
Fr. Thomas J. Kenny
|
1960
|
1965
|
|
|
Fr. John Tomblin
|
1962
|
1967
|
|
|
Fr. John O’Hara
|
1965
|
1966
|
|
|
Fr. J. Bryan Sharp
|
1966
|
1968
|
|
|
Fr. Paul Moxon
|
1967
|
1968
|
|
|
Fr. Morgan
|
1968
|
1970
|
|
|
Fr. Matthew Dwyer
|
1968
|
1971
|
|
|
Fr. Adrian O’Connell
|
1970
|
1973
|
|
|
Fr. Michael A. Kelly
|
1971
|
1976
|
|
|
Fr. Kevin Griffin
|
1973
|
1978
|
|
|
Fr. Anthony Fenton
|
1976
|
1982
|
|
|
Fr. John F. Nunan
|
1978
|
1983
|
|
|
Fr. Michael Hutton
|
1981
|
1985
|
|
|
Fr. John Clarke
|
1985
|
1989
|
|
|
Fr. Michael Wiley
|
1987
|
1989
|
6th Sept 1991
|
|
Fr. Nicholas Farrell
|
1988
|
1991
|
|
|
Fr. Paul. Varey
|
1991
|
1992
|
|
|
Fr. Christopher Willis
|
1992
|
1992
|
|
|
Fr. David Massey
|
1992
|
1994
|
8th Sept 2003
|
|
Fr. Benjamin Griffiths
|
1994
|
1995
|
|
|
Fr. Gerald Thornton
|
1995
|
1999
|
|
|
