St Vincent's Church, Sheffield facts for kids
St Vincent's Church is a former Roman Catholic church in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is located on Solly Street in the city centre. After being closed for worship, the building was in poor condition. However, the area around it, including the church itself, was redeveloped recently.
Contents
Irish People Come to Sheffield
Between 1845 and 1849, many people left Ireland because of the Great Famine. They hoped to find a better life in England. Sheffield's growing industries, like making cutlery and tools, attracted many Irish immigrants.
Many walked about 80 miles from Liverpool Docks, over the Pennine hills, to settle in an area of Sheffield called "The Crofts." This area was around Solly Street. At that time, The Crofts was a busy centre for making steel, cutlery, and tools. These goods were famous worldwide.
The Crofts was a working-class neighbourhood. It had crowded homes and lacked good sanitation or healthcare. It was a mix of factories, small workshops, churches, schools, and pubs.
How St Vincent's Began
Most Irish immigrants in The Crofts were Catholic. They went to St Marie's church, which was the only Catholic church in Sheffield in the early 1850s.
Father Edmund Scully from St Marie's wanted to build a school-chapel for The Crofts. On Good Friday in 1851, land was bought for £700. Matthew Ellison Hadfield designed the chapel-school. It was finished in July 1853 and cost £1,850.
Chapel Becomes a Church
The chapel was made much bigger in 1856 by George Goldie. He was a partner of Hadfield's. A nave (main part of the church) and a chancel (area around the altar) were added. This cost £3,100. It was then officially called a church, even though it had no tower.
More building work happened in 1870, costing £650. A church tower was built up to 40 feet high. This tower included the south porch and an entrance. The tower was made taller in 1911, reaching its current height of 93 feet. This was possible because Mr. Philip Wake donated £1,400.
The new tower was designed by Charles Hadfield. It was built in the Norman style, like churches in Normandy. Michael Logue, a very important church leader from Ireland, officially blessed and opened it on October 28, 1911.
Years Between the World Wars
In 1920, the St Vincent's church area was divided. A new church, Sacred Heart, was created in the Hillsborough area of the city.
The area around St Vincent's church still had many old, crowded homes. The Great Depression in the United Kingdom caused many difficulties for families there. This led to a plan to clear out these old homes, starting in 1929. Many old buildings were torn down, and people moved to newer, more spacious homes in the suburbs. This clearing of old homes continued until 1938. It stopped because a war was about to begin.
The famous actor Patrick McGoohan was a student at the school during this time.
Second World War Impact
German bombers attacked Sheffield during the Sheffield Blitz on the night of December 12/13, 1940. The original 1853 chapel was destroyed when a bomb landed on its roof. The girls' school was also destroyed. Every window in the church was blown out, breaking some beautiful stained glass windows. Luckily, the newer part of the church, built in 1911, was not badly damaged.
After the War and Today
People worked hard to raise money to rebuild the damaged church in the 1950s. This included a new chapel, new roofs, and a new entrance porch.
After the war, more old homes were cleared in the St Vincent's area. The district was rebuilt as a business area. Because of this, the church lost many of its members. By 1989, the church's house (presbytery) and school were both closed. Many remaining church members lived in other parts of Sheffield.
Fundraising began for a new church building that would be easier for people to reach. The old St Vincent's church building finally closed for worship in 1996. The new church, St Vincent's Church, Crookes, opened in May 2001.
The old church building stayed empty for many years. For a while, the St Vincent de Paul Society used it to store furniture. The land around the church was used as a car park.
The church is part of Sheffield's St Vincent's Quarter, which is being redeveloped. Most of the site was bought by Unite Students. They planned to build student housing in 2016. The first students moved in during September 2018. The church building itself has been turned into a shared space for students. It now has social areas, a cinema, a kitchen, and music rooms.
The old school building stayed with St Vincent's parish at first. In 2017, the parish gave the building to Mission Hub Sheffield, a Catholic group. The school building was renovated by 2019. It is also used by the Catholic chaplaincy for the University of Sheffield.
See also
- St Michael's Cemetery, Sheffield
