St Jude's Church, Wigan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St Jude's Church |
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| St Jude's Church, Worsley Mesnes | |
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| 53°31′35″N 2°38′51″W / 53.52629°N 2.64746°W | |
| OS grid reference | SD 57173 03479 |
| Location | Wigan |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | St Jude & St Aidan Parish |
| History | |
| Status | Active |
| Founded | December 1964 |
| Founder(s) | Fr Richard Tobin |
| Dedication | Jude the Apostle |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Parish church |
| Heritage designation | Grade II |
| Architect(s) | L A G Prichard |
| Style | Brutalist |
| Completed | July 1965 |
| Construction cost | £100,000+ |
| Administration | |
| Parish | St Jude and St Aidan |
| Deanery | Wigan |
| Archdiocese | Liverpool |
St Jude's Church is a Roman Catholic church located in Worsley Mesnes, a part of Wigan, Greater Manchester. It was finished in 1965. This church is a Grade II listed building, which means it's an important historical building. It was built in the Brutalist style. You can find it where St Paul's Avenue and Poolstock Lane meet. The church is part of the Wigan area within the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
Contents
History of St Jude's Church
How the Church Started
In the early to mid-1900s, many homes in central Wigan were taken down. People moved to new housing areas on the edge of town. These new areas included Poolstock and Worsley Mesnes. To help the Catholic families in these new places, Father Richard Tobin started a small church in 1959. It was a "wooden hut" on St Paul's Avenue in Worsley Mesnes. This small church was called a chapel of ease, which means it was a smaller church for people who lived far from the main parish church.
In 1962, Father Tobin wrote to the Archbishop of Liverpool, George Andrew Beck. He suggested building a new, permanent church. He thought it should be named after either St Jude or Our Lady of the Assumption. Archbishop Beck replied on March 15:
My dear Father Tobin, Many thanks for your letter. I like your suggestion of St. Jude as a patron of the new church. We already have a parish in honour of The Assumption but none, so far as I know, to St. Jude. I assume that you do not intend to suggest by this title that Wigan is a hopeless case!!
This shows that the Archbishop liked the idea of a church named after St Jude.
The architects L A G Prichard & Sons from Liverpool were hired. Building work began in the summer of 1963. The ground in the area had sunk because of coal mining. This meant the church needed extra strong foundations. The total cost of building the church was more than £100,000. Archbishop Beck laid the first stone in December 1964. The church officially opened for services in July 1965.
What St Jude's Church Looks Like
Church Design and Features
St Jude's Church was built using strong materials like reinforced concrete and brick. It has a unique fan shape. Imagine an isosceles triangle with its corners slightly rounded off. At the front entrance, there is a round baptistry. This is a special area for baptisms. Above the baptistry, there are four tall, thin concrete shapes holding up a pole with a cross.
Inside the church, you can see a large mosaic of the crucifixion. A mosaic is a picture made from many small pieces of colored glass or stone. This mosaic is very big, measuring 17 feet by 9 feet. It was designed by Hans Unger and made by Eberhard Schulze.
The Stations of the Cross are also shown as mosaics. These are a series of pictures that tell the story of Jesus's last day. They have shiny gold backgrounds. John Madden and Sons from Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed and made these mosaics. Brendan Madden and his brothers put them together.
One of the most amazing parts of the church is the dalle de verre stained glass. This type of stained glass is made from thick pieces of colored glass set in concrete. It covers the walls of the nave, which is the main part of the church where people sit. Robin Riley designed these beautiful windows. They were made in France by Verriers de St Jobain. Glaziers J O’Neill and Sons then installed them. The patterns are abstract, meaning they don't show clear pictures. They have swirling shapes mainly in blue, red, yellow, and green colors.
The Parish of St Jude and St Aidan
About the Parish
A parish is a local church community. St Jude's Church became bigger when it joined with St Joseph's parish in Wigan. This happened when St Joseph's church closed in 1995. Later, in 2017, St Jude's parish joined with the nearby parish of St Aidan's in Winstanley. Now, the combined parish is called St Jude and St Aidan.
The parish holds two Sunday masses each week. One is at 9:00 am at St Aidan's church. The other is at 10:30 am at St Jude's church. The parish also includes two Catholic primary schools: St Jude's Catholic Primary School and St Aidan's Catholic Primary School. The Wigan St Judes Rugby League club is also connected to the parish.
Past Parish Priests
- Fr Richard Tobin: 1964–1976
- Fr Michael Cronin: 1977–1984
- Fr Thomas Delaney: 1984–1989
- Canon Patrick McNally: 1989–2017
- Fr John Causey: 2017–present
See also
- Listed buildings in Wigan
