St Mary of Furness Roman Catholic Church facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St Mary of Furness Church
Religion
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
District	Diocese of Lancaster
Province	Province of Liverpool
Status	Active
Location
Location	Hindpool, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England
Architecture
Completed	1867
Website
Diocese of Lancaster: St Mary of Furness

St Mary of Furness is a Roman Catholic church. You can find it on Duke Street in Barrow-in-Furness, England. The group of people who worship here started in 1858. The church building we see today was built between 1866 and 1867.

Building St Mary's Church

The church cost £6,000 to build. This money was given by Spencer Cavendish. He was the 8th Duke of Devonshire, a very important person. The church was designed by an English architect named E. W. Pugin.

Church Size and Design

When it was first built, the church could seat 800 people. It has since been made bigger. Now, it can hold about 1,000 people for worship. In 1976, St Mary of Furness and its presbytery (the priest's house) became a Grade II listed building. This means they are important old buildings protected by Historic England.

Special Features of the Church

The church has a large organ. This organ has about 3,000 pipes! It was first built by a company called Messrs. Hill and Son. It was made for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society.

The tall, pointed part of the church, called the spire, was not added right away. Even though it was part of the original plans, the spire was only built in 1888.

Interior of St. Mary's including the altar

Keeping the Church Safe

The church was put on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register. This happened because the stone on the spire was starting to decay. Decay means it was slowly breaking down.

Repair Work and Funding

Repair work was done in 2015 to fix the spire. The money for these repairs came from two places. One was the Heritage Lottery Fund. The other was the Places of Worship scheme. These groups help to protect important old buildings.