Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/181

 • 154 mSTOBY OP BISHOP AUOKLAKD. Kipling laid the foTindation stone in the usual way. In the evening of the same day an excellent tea was served to a large company in the Town Hall, in which was also held a bazaar for the sale of fancy and other needlework At seven o'clock a public meeting was held in the same place, presided over by Henry Mawson, Esq., of Leeds, when addresses were delivered by the Eev. Marmaduke Miller and several other ministers and members of the church. The building was again opened for divine worship on the 10th of May, 1870, when sermons were preached by the Rev. Marmaduke Miller, after which a tea meeting was held in the school- room adjoining. In the evening a public meeting was held in the chapel, when addresses were delivered by the Revs. M. Miller, Holliday, Crabtree, and others. Special services were also held on the three following Sundays, when appropriate sermons were preached by the Rev. Mr. Mather, President of the Assembly, and several other ministers of eminence connected with the church. The new chapel and school, which are from designs furnished by Mr. J. D. Thompson, of Bishop Auckland, stand upon an area of about 480 square yards. Within the entrance to the chapel is a lobby 16 feet by 9 feet. On each side of the doorway are stairs to the gallery, each stair being four feet in width, and of stone. The sittings on the ground floor of the chapel are divided into three divisions by two aisles, and afford sitting acconmiodation for 200 persons. The gallery is supported by cast-iron columns and beams. The pews are continued round the interior of the gaUery, and are calculated to hold 300 people, making a total of 500 sittings. The school, which adjoins the chapel, is 49 feet long by 27 feet in width, and is lighted, as weU as the chapel, on the front elevations with windows of malleable iron, fiUed with obscured glass. The contractor for the mason work was Mr. W. J. Wilson ; joiner work, Mr. J. Robson ; slating, Mr. R Mascall ; plumbing, Mr Wm. Craggs ; painting, Mr. R Brotherton ; and for the heating apparatus and railing, Mr. J. A. Summersall, of Newcastle-on-T3me. The buUding, which is characterised by no very decided architectural features, is both neat and substantial, and cost . about £2,000. ST. WILFRID'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL. The first services in connection with the Roman Catholic Church in Bishop Auckland were held in the Assembly Room, Shepherd's Inn, Fore Bondgate, in the year 1840. Dr. Hogarth, the late Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, who was at that time resident priest at Dar- lington, after attending to the spiritual wants of his own flock, visited Bishop Auckland on Sunday afternoons, and on those occasions read evening prayers, and frequently preached a sermon to a few Catholics who had been brought into the town and neighbourhood by the public works which were then being opened out. Previous to that time, the few resident CathoUcs had to go to Croxdale, a distance of eight miles, in order to attend to their religious duties. Shortly afterwards a room, situated in High Bondgate, belonging to the late Thomas Peacock, Esq., was obtained, and which was kindly lent by that gentleman free of charge for about four years. This room was fitted up as a temporary chapel, and in it the Catholic inhabitants of the town were first enabled to attend the holy sacrifice of the Mass since the time of the Reformation. The Rev. Luke Currey (now Canon Currey, of Carlisle,) was the first resident priest. In the year 1845, a suitable site was obtained for a church, and in the early part of that year the foundation stone was laid with the usual ceremonies by Dr. HogartL The edifice was first opened for divine service on the 13th of October of the following year, by the Right Rev. W. Riddle, who celebrated High Mass. The sermon in the morning was preached by the Rev. Richard Gillow, of North Shields, and in the evening by the Rev. James Standin, of St. Andrew's, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne. The resident priest at that time was the Rev. James Gibson Digitized by Google