Sacred Heart Church, Coniston

Introduction

Bishop A. Goss of Liverpool opened Sacred Heart Church, Coniston, on 29 September 1872, the Sunday before his death; James O’Byrne of Liverpool was its designer and George Usher of Coniston its builder.

History

People went to Ulverston for Mass before the Coniston Mission was founded. Mass was said first in Dunn’s cottage, Cat Bank, by a priest from Belmont, and later in the loft by Baxter’s, until the church opened six years after the mission’s foundation. The chapel was built in a field at the low end of Coniston, near Haws Bank, adjoining the railway. At the opening, a preacher from Preston spoke on reviving worship formerly practised at Cartmel Church and Furness Abbey.

In 2014 Our Lady and Saint James’ parish was merged with the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Coniston. The new parish of Saint Francis of Assisi was inaugurated with a papal blessing. Miss Elizabeth Ann Aglionby of Wigton Hall was the principal benefactor and is buried in the graveyard west of the church doors.

Architecture and furnishings

Double doors set in a Gothic arch form the main entrance. The interior is one volume, with a pitched plaster ceiling, plaster walls, plain Gothic walls, and plain Gothic wooden carvings between the nave and the sanctuary. In June 1881 Bishop O’Reilly blessed the 130lb church bell in the tower. Coniston Green Slate is the material of the baptismal font.

John Ruskin gave the east window behind the altar, which shows the vision of Saint John in the Isle of Patmos. The three lights of the east window are inscribed “These are they who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb”. The Crucifixion is depicted in the windows at the west end. The Joyful and Glorious Mysteries of the Holy Rosary are depicted in the side windows.

The nave windows were put in circa 1937. Miss Aglionby and the Gibson family donated the windows on the south side of the altar.