Sacred Heart Church
 

pics of sacred heart church in the prosess of demoliton

Sacred Heart
 

I didn't know they had started to demolish! What a shame! Thats another of our fine buildings going. We are going to have nothing of interest left in Accrington.

Sacred Heart
 

Here's an old, internal view of the church

sorry about the pic got size wrong
will try again i have loads of the inside as well

OMG, scuse the pun, this should not be allowed. When did this happen? I thought it was just a rumour. wasn't anything done to try and save it?

Sacred Heart Church
 

Demolition under way at the back of the Church.

and it looks like the windows are still in. I used to love the stained glass and the big huge Oak doors round the back. that too bad stuff like that wasn't salvaged. I'm still stunned that nothing could have been done to stop it.

Littlemo,

Note that the JCB doing the demolition is Connollys. They have a yard down Coach Road in Church and it's full of big stones which they flog at inflated prices. I can assure you that they will look after all the stone and flog it as soon as they can as Holy or Consecrated stone!!

Darby's right. The stone & slate will be salvaged and sold at an exorbitant price....so too the seating inside. The alter and other icon's will probably be locked up somewhere.

It seems that all the lessons of the 60's on the wanton destruction of Victorian buildings appear to have passed Accrington by. OK, I know the Church (CE or Rome) has a dwindling congregation and that a building such as the SH is too big; but to have it pulled down on the basis there was dry rot in the rafters is ridiculous. Surely someone could have had a little bit of imagination to invest in saving the roof and then using the building for other purposes. This is vandalism & madness in the extreme. No wonder noone goes to Church Service while these to**ers are in charge.

sacred heart was roman catholic, i went to 10am mass every sunday there , i had all my 3 children christened there , but the cost & upkeep was enourmous & as t said it had a dwindling congregation, i always found it a very cold church, i have goneback to my original church st, marys up ossy which if you remember could have been one of those to be pulled down , i must addmitt im glad it wont become a mosque//

It may not become a Mosque, but I bet it'll become a Muslim School for wayward boys :spank: or a training school for Muslim Clerics :notworthy . Watch that space!!

The area is to have houses built on it
All the interier of the church went a 2 monthes ago
there is no stained glass in there the only glass is clear window glass
the big rose window at the front is window glass .
The priest houses down the side have now gone
but i know someone who got a 28 in tv and a full bathroom set out of it .
so all the interier of the buildings has gone
most of the church inside was sent to other churches
its just a shame about the building

Hey Mez,

I was a bad catholic boy & I remember going to the Sacred Heart for mass every sunday.

Does anyone remember the priest there called Stack? He was the catholic answer to Ian Paisley - a classic hell fire & brimstone sermon was guaranteed every week from him. A complete nut. I think he also claimed to be the cousin of the American Actor Robert Stack (The Untouchables). I just wonder what he would think of this sorry mess.

Only went to sacred heart church once. This was in 1996 for a funeral, and I swear that the priest was blind drunk. Everyone in there, who went regularly said that this was quite normal for him! It was cold inside, but most churches are, St James in Accy centre has always been freezing when I've been in there. Sacred Heart was a lovely building though.:drunk:

In the late 40's and early 50's the 9th Loyola scout troop was based there. Er! I think that it was the 9th. We had some great times learning to tie each other in knots and the highlight of a meeting was the game of British Bulldog before staggering home to get a bag of chips on the way. Even though I wasn't keen on attending mass etc. it is a shame that yet one more fine old building has gone. I'm glad I'm not a building 'cos they'd have pulled me down long ago.

oo tea, do i remember dean stack, i wanted to get married at st, marys ossy, & i had to get permission off him , oo i think it took me a month to pluck up courage to go , but i did get permission , i did get married at st, marys, then moved to acc, & attended sacred heart. there was another priest there too WORSE than dean stack but i cant remember his name, i had a few run ins with him . mmm not saying anymore ///

church
 

took these today of the church thought you would like to see the work they have done

Salvage v Demolition
 

Judging by those photo's, they don't appear to be taking much care in dismantling the vaulted arches...I though that type of stonework would have been worth quite a few bob.

From Accy to ashes, dust to dust.

Photos of Sacred Heart, having the "heart" ripped out of it.
 

Thanks for these photos Mick. I went past on the train today on my way to Blackpool, and noticed the huge hole in the back of the church. What a dam..d shame!

It's a shame that they had to knock it down, it was a lovely church.

They did'nt have to knock it down.........they could have deconsecrated the building and sold it off for another use. Instead, one more example of our great Victorian building heritage has gone to rubble.

We look at those nutters in the 1960's who destroyed most of our great town architecture throughout the land and replaced it with rubbish.......Accy escaped relatively unscathed. It now looks like we're trying to catch up.

Sacred heart
 

yet some more pics of the church

And some more
 

how about these as well

yet more
 

here are the rest i took today

There will be more to follow weather permitting

Looks like there will be nowt left by this time next week. This is outrageous, outrageous..

I have been talking to someone that did a lot of the art work in the church.
he is very upset at the way they are just ripping the place down.

Artwork....
 

...I can imagine the artist is upset. This is the equivalent of burning books.....it is a kick in the face...no attempt appears to have been made to preserve any of the finer items...no salvage, no nothing.

I wonder what whatever goes up on the site will look like.

Look At This Window
 

GOING GOING GONE what a shame

Its a stained glass window and they are just reking it

S H C
 

Took these pics today friday morning

S H C
 

And these as well

Sacred Heart
 

Mick, thank you! The photographs are brilliant.
Atarah

It's a terrible shame looking at these pictures. But the way it is took down is not the demolishers fault, they have got a job to do and they are doing it. The people who did nothing to stop this happening are the people to be angry at.
The way a church is taken down is no different to the way a factory is taken down. To be honest I am more sad at seeing rists being demolished than sacred heart - a church these days is nothing, but a factory with plenty of jobs in it means a lot. To me anyway, we can have hope in god or we can have hope in money, I know where my allegiance lies.

saterday
 

took these this morning

and these
 

taken saterday 14/02/04

Monday 16th Feb -- 11am
 

Will just post this one as Mick has beaten me to it.

if you have some more bert please post them i have about 100 up to now
i am going to put them all on cd when they have finished pulling the church down
so if anyone wants a copy just ask
they are free and i dont mind you using them on all your sites

Organ Pipes....
 

Surely they are not wrecking the organ as well? I would have assumed those pipes would be easily salvagable?

The others I took of the Sacred Heart this morning - Mon16th - are really almost identical to yours. Will leave these demolition records to you. Regarding my Web -- the previous ones will not be used again. Am just waiting for info from Roy before publishing my new one.

Shc
 

On the move taken tues 2pm

shc
 

and the rest i took on tues

Sacred Heart items
 

Hi, been talking with someone who is in the "know" a little bit. Regarding the huge marble war memorial which was just inside the entrance doors - there was talk apparently about re-siting this to the garden of a house on Hyndburn Road, where the first catholic church used to be (the transepts are now the two cottages near Hyndburn Park School) - then they discovered the marble used was only suitable for "indoor" use. Then they thought about putting inside the house at Gatty Park, but the whole memorial was too large. Now there's a chance it may by put, IN A GLASS TYPE BOX, outside St Mary's, Oswaldtwistle.
Everything else of interest from the church has, apparently, been sent all over Lancashire, to various Catholic Churches, ie. Manchester/Bury/Chorley.
I am hoping to find out more on this subject.

the large statue which was on the back of a lorry,has just been delivered to St Mary's in Ossy, it is sat outside at this min, if anyone wants to take a photo be quick!

War memorial statue
 

Well spotted K.S.H. 10/10
Wish I had a car and a digital, but I dont.
Someone may just get round though.

Safe and sound at St Mary's, Oswaldtwistle.
 

Well, what can I say Owd Bert? You are indeed a star! Thank you so much for the update!!! Here is the new home of the statues which belong to the War Memorial. They are to be "housed" in a glass enclosure of some sort.

I took the hint when I saw Atarah`s appeal for a photo -- however I hope the case is made of toughened glass.

shc
 

They have taken the organ pipes out

How...
 

were they taken out? Ripped out & bunged in a skip or disassembled and placed on the back of a flat truck?

just come past st marys they have put the statue in a big box -like construction, no glass yet.

shc
 

It has nearly gone now took these friday morning

shc
 

and the rest

Sacred Heart - The End
 

Thanks Mick. You have done a good job with all the photographs you have taken.

I'll second that atarah, well done mick.

As they used
 

to say at the SH, Amen.

A few pics of the interior of Sacred Heart taken on the day after the last mass.

shc
 

it will be down before the end of the month !!!

CARD fron SHC
 

This card was given out at the church
They where kindly given to me by Mr Butterworth
I have 5 spare if you would like one please let me know
they are 5 x 3 you will not get one again

Hi Mick,

Do you know what happened to the round stonework surrounding the glass, per you picture around mid-day friday? Was ths ripped down or was any attempt made to "jacket" it and bring it down in one piece?

most of it is on the floor
but i have been told by one of the workmen that a lot of the stone is going up to
Cumbria for barn conversions.

I do know someone that managed to get a section of the stained glass from the small
panels near the front door

Barn Conversations
 

Well, I suppose it is being put to some good use.......it's better than being used as hardcore for some motorway extension.

The stone from the church
 

I also got told today that a builder from the Lake District had bought most of the stone, for building new cottages in that area.

Off to work now

Probably not for the locals, though....
 

...It sounds like that nice old Accrington landmark Church is now going to make lovely weekend homes for wealthy London & Manchester yuppies up in the Lake District. Is'nt life wonderful!

They might not be spreading the good word, but they are certanly spreading the building all over the place

shc
 

Near the front door
taken this morning (THURS)

Sacred Heart Church
 

Thanks to Mick and yerself and Owd Bert we have some smashing photos to look back on! Good on yer!!

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Hi, now found out where most of the religious items have gone to:
The Sacred Heart School, St Oswalds School, St Anne's (Acc), St James The Less (?), St Marys - CLM, St Huberts - Gt Har, St Wulstans - Gt Har, St Marys - Bacup, St Anslems - Rochdale, St Wilfreds -Preston, SS Michael and John - Clitheroe, St John the Baptist - Burnley, St Edmunds - Bolton, Holy Infant and St Anthony - Bolton, Mount Carmel High School - Acc, Hospital Chaplain - Blackburn, Our Lady of Grace (?), plus lots more. One of the Blake family plaques has been returned to great grandchildren - (The Blake family were greatly involved with the church)

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

What's going on? I leave you for 4 years and not only do you lose the clock in the arndale but know this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :swear8:

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

I now have a collection of pics taken inside the church if you would like me to put them on here please let me know.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

They have pulled all those fur trees down that were round the church now

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

It looks really strange now - the building is completely down.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

here are some of the inside of the church

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

ALL the art work was done by Mr Butterworth

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

these are the last ones for now anyway

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

I remember Fr. Stack. Terrifying man. The only person I have ever met who could silence a playground full of screaming kids just by walking into it. As an Altar Boy I had the unenviable task of serving at his Masses. It's no wonder I am a nervous wreck now. Still, that's Jesuits for you. The drunken Priest that Lettie referred to could have been either Fr. Morrissey or Fr. Houlahan both were quite fond of the bottle. My mother had a crush on Fr. Houlahan, but then, so did quite a few other women. You could never accuse my mother of being original.

It was sad to see the old building go and it is a pity that another use could not be found for it. still I suppose that it is better to pull it down rather than have it turned into a mosque.

Oddly enough, I never remember it being a cold church, even in the depths of winter.
Does anyone remember those marathon church processions that were held in the summer. There are photographs of me published in The Observer dressed in my cassock in the front line of the procession. My grandmother, a devout catholic, was so proud of me.

does anyone know what happened to all the parephenalia, plate, banners etc. Or were they all destroyed.

I managed to snaffle a couple of small pieces of stained glass as a keepsake.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Hi Bob....there are a few postings earlier on in this thread on the whereabouts of the alter, etc. Yes, it was a cold church...I remember back in the mid-60's they spent alot of money on installing electric heating...not that it made much difference.

Sacred Heart Church/Paddock House
 

Hi, this is the only photo I can find that is relatively up to date. Anyone remember it? Think its taken up at Paddock House.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Well, Atarah....I can't recognise myself on there...

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Hi Tealeaf, could you perhaps date the photo for us then?

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Judging by the hair, shoe and dress styles it's mid-50's to mid-60's......but I don't recognise the priests on there..possibly from the church in Ossy?

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Oh, arrrrgh! those bluddy eaton collars. I hated them they were as stiff as plastic and you had to fasten them with studs and the holes for the studs were minute. I quite liked the gloves though, you could chew the finger ends all through mass.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Really bad photo of me in my cassock, I'm in the middle by the way.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Chuckle! Chuckle! Your eyes are screwed up, your hair looks plastered down with Bril cream, you dont look a happy bunny, but, thanks for sharing! Who are the other two on the photo?

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

"Still, that's Jesuits for you."

Acrylic-bob, I don't think Dean Stack (I bet he doesn't know you've demoted him) was a Jesuit. From what I've read the Jesuits left in 1959.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Hi yerself,
I stand ready to be corrected, memory often plays tricks. But I distinctly remember that on the doors of the confessionals there were name plates for each confessor each of which bore the suffix 'S.J.' That would be around the time that I was six or seven and so would be in 1963-4 approx. I suppose I could check with the diocesan office.

Hi Atarah,

No I don't think I was too happy, I was hot and felt like a real pratt and had a long walk ahead of me. My two companions are the children of an Italian family my parents were friendly with, Antonio and Rosa Tedesco. Their father Guiseppe was a member of Willow Mount WMC.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

At the risk of boring everyone witless I have managed to dig out an earlier photo. Same procession but in 1962. Taken at the bottom of Willows Lane just outside what is now Platts Social Club. The tall boy behind me is Michael Cawley. The portly woman sheilding her face is Miss Bull the headmistress of St. Oswald's Primary School at the time. Later she had to leave after she shoved Micheal's head through a window.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Ooops pic to big, try this

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Ooh! You look luvverly!!

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Hi Yerself,
The story so far:-
I have been in touch with the Diocesan Office in Salford who supplied the following:

"I couldn't find a reference to him but wasn't sure whether 'Dean' was a title or surname. (I spotted a Canon Joseph Stack who died 22 Feb 1982). Not being in the list would imply he was non-diocesan (i.e. an order priest). "

The list he refers to is the Diocesan Almanack. The next port of call is The Diocesan Archivist. Stay tuned..

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Hi, a Dean is a title. So Fr. Stack was known as Dean Stack. Don't know if he was made Cannon later on, but whilst at Sacred Heart he was the Dean of the parish. Also i think the drunken priest was Fr. Morrisey. One of the nicest priests that i remember at Sacred Heart was Fr. Dwyer.


Also i don't know if anyone remembers a 50/60s actor called Robert Stack, i think he was in the untouchables. Well he was Dean Stack's cousin. (As told by my parents.)

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

I used to work at the moorcock Inn, on Waddington fell and Fr Stack and about 5 other priests came in for lunch once a week and had the best wine & food, it was one of the top establishments at that time, they did'nt settle for second best, we used to say the sky pilots are here, money was no object, but they never left a tip. Maybe thats one of the reasons I lapsed.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Oddly enough, I was musing on such matters only yesterday, ie, the priests I remembered from my childhood. And I was moved to speculate on why so many Priests came from Ireland. I really have difficulty believing that it was because the Irish are uniquely devout. I came to the conclusion that it was because the Church, for many, represented a way out of poverty. A bit like joining the army, but without the unpleasant necessity of having to kill people occaisionally. I know from my own experience that several of the priests at Sacred Heart were addicted to alcohol and the temptations of the flesh. Your story about Fr. Stack and his associates serves to confirm this view.

Not that I am condemning them in any way, the priesthood is often a hard, thankless choice of career and I have always rather admired Fr.Stack, in a sideways sort of way. The Parish certainly thrived under his hand. I suppose it's the hypocracy that irks me.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

I have done some research into the Sacred Heart and this might answer some of the questions and be of interest to people,
A Dean is a priest in charge of a deanary, it is higher than a father but lower than a Canon.
The Jesuits left the Sacred Heart in 1958, the last members there were Fr Walter Smith, Fr J Taylor and Fr Dinley.
When they moved out, the Salford Diocese sent Dean Joseph Stack, Fr James Brenan and Fr Edward Morrisey to take over in 1959
A in 1975 Fr Denis Dwyer was curate, and in 1976, Fr Liam Comer
Dean Stack remained in charge of the parish until 1977, when he moves to St Peter Rossendale for a year before taking sabatical leave and going to Ireland, He comes back in 1980 and is apointed to the Sacred Heart, Blackburn, He becomes a Canon in 1981 but dies in 1982, i have attached a photo of him.
Fr Stacks sucessor at Accrington was Fr Patrick Desmond with Fr Joshua Sheeky as curate

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Hi greg' your chronology, leaves a couple of questions still standing: namely, why is it that after the Jesuit's handed over the running of the Parish to the Diocese in 1958 did some of the priests still append the initials 'S.J.' to their names on the signs painted on the confessionals at Sacred Heart? And why is there no mention in your chronology of Fr.'s Houlahan (sp?) and Phelan?

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

The Jesuits are a strange order, back in the ninteenth and early twentieth centurys, they considered themselves to be missionary labourers, they would often build a parish from scratch, and then hand it over to the diocese and move else where and start over again, so this could be what happened at the Sacred Heart. they usually kept one main base in a diocese, in our case at the Holy Name in Manchester. there are many parishes in the diocese which they built then left, it was quite a common thing for them to do.

As for the initials on the door, that is slightly more puzzling, Dean Stack and his curates were definatly not Jesuits. Could they have simply been left over from the previous incumbants and never painted out, or were they actually integrated into the names of the priests

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Correct me if I'm wrong greg78uk. But isn't the main base for the Jesuits in our diocese at Stonyhurst? They have been there for some 200 years and as you can see from the excerpt below, from the history of St. Mary's Clayton-le-Moors, they served local catholics from that location.

Mass was forbidden in England by statute from June 24th 1559, and it was 232 years later to the day, on June 24th 1791, that the Catholic Relief Act permitted public Catholic chapels to be established within the law. Following the closure of Dunkenhalgh Chapel in 1816, the new Catholic chapel in Clayton was opened under the Act of 1791, on July 11th 1819. It was built for £1,442.1s.5d, and the inscription over the door read boldly 'The Lord is in his Holy Temple'. The land was given by Mr. R.G. Lomax of Clayton Hall and the priest was Father Charles Brooke, S.J., who at first travelled over from Stonyhurst each Sunday.

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Yes you're right, the main base is at Stonyhurst, the Holy Name was the base for South Lancashire, i got mixed up

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Interestingly enough the former curate Fr Edward Morrisey is still alive, he has been at St Edwards Rusholme for the past 20 years or so, and retired two months ago, and has now returned home to Ireland

Re: Sacred Heart Church
 

Isn't it a pity that we can't go and look at the door?