St Thomas Becket - Tarporley

Introduction

Saint Thomas Becket in Tarporley had Mass said in the town in the 1850s, and the parish story starts in 1906 in a storeroom over a grocer’s shop at 53 High Street. The house Four Winds was bought in 1938, and Father Brendan Keogh SDS of the Salvatorian Order (Christleton) became the first resident priest, with a Catholic church established. Father Bernard Houghton came in 1945 as the first secular priest of the Shewsbury Diocese to be parish priest in Tarporley.

History

The Goulding and Larkin families probably formed the nucleus of the Catholic population of Tarporley. First Communions and Confirmation classes were held in the Goulding family home. The church club room also served as a rest room for American servicemen. Father Bernard Houghton’s dates are given as 1945–48.

Architecture and furnishings

The Oak Tree cafe was made partly into a church and partly into a club room, and the adjoining house became the presbytery. Between 1969 and 1975 the old club room was dismantled, the altar was moved from the south wall to the west wall, and a new organ was installed.

Music and liturgy

Each Thursday there was Benediction and a meeting of Sword of the Spirit. A statue of Our Lady stands beside the altar as a memorial to the Goulding family.

Parish life

A youth club was formed with table tennis, woodwork and leather-craft among its activities. Sunday School was well attended. In 1941 children evacuated from Liverpool received religious instruction in the church each day before going on to the village school. During the war, Italian and German prisoners of war used the church.

During the war, British servicemen based in the area organised social and money-making events for the church. American troops knelt on the grass outside the church to hear Mass when there was no room inside. Open air Mass was said in the grounds of Captain Rowlands' house in Forest Road.

A Parish Sister is involved in pastoral ministry of presence and support. Baptisms and weddings are arranged through the Sacramental Programmes page.

Visiting

The old Oak Tree Cafe was converted into a chapel formally opened by Bishop Moriarty on 21 September 1941. A scroll with names of some American soldiers was found, reframed, and hung in the church as a memorial.