The history of Catholicism in
Barwick-in-Elmet is one of a small but faithful
congregation who have, since the Reformation,
endured various degrees of hardship to attend
Sunday mass and to receive the sacraments. Their
history is closely intertwined with that of
Catholics in the neighbouring villages of
Aberford and Scholes.
The Gascoigne family at Parlington, always
a deeply religious family, had remained Catholic
during and after the Reformation. Two members of
the family joined the Benedictine order of monks
in the seventeenth century and the Benedictines
provided chaplains at Parlington until 1780, when
Sir Thomas Gascoigne, perhaps with a view to
social and political advancement, renounced the
faith. To ensure that the Catholics of Aberford,
Barwick Micklefield and the surrounding areas
could attend Sunday mass, he did however build
St. Wilfred's church at Aberford. But he saw to
it that the church was located outside the
village and slightly off the road, this being at
a time when tolerance of other religious faiths
was not high.
St. Wilfrid's from the Almshouses (early 1900's)
The number of Catholics in Barwick in the
nineteenth century was probably small and it has
been very difficult to acquire information about
these activities since many of the records from
that time were accidentally destroyed or mislaid
when St. Wilfred's was recently deconsecrated.
We do know, however, that in the first part of the
twentieth century leading up to World War II, and
prior to the expansion of housing in Barwick in
the 1960s, there were just four Catholic
families. They were never set apart, but joined
in the usual social activities of the village.
The Interior, St. Wilfred's.
Although there was a limited bus service
between Barwick and Aberford from 1931, run by
the West Yorkshire Bus Company, as I am informed
by Mr Trevor Leach, the Editor of West Yorkshire
Information Services, most of the journeys to and
from Sunday mass were undertaken on foot.
Occasionally however, a Mr Rowe, a local pig
farmer, did provide his pig wagon (thoroughly
scrubbed out) as a means of transport for the
Barwick faithful.
Mrs Pat Rhodes, who was Miss Pat Murphy,
told me that she and her three brothers owned a
bike which they took it in turns to ride to
Aberford and that her younger brother was wont to
make his way there on roller skates! She also
recalls that there was a pipe organ at St
Wilfred's, which her brother Edward used to play
occasionally from the age of about 13 while his
mother, Mrs Elsie Murphy, blew the bellows.
For a short period in the 1950s, because
of the difficulties of reaching Aberford from
Barwick, a coach was hired to take the Catholic
families of Barwick and Scholes to Seacroft
village hall. However the arrangement did not
continue for long and the Barwick families
resumed their Sunday morning journeys to Aberford
by whatever means, orthodox or otherwise, were
necessary.
23 priests served at St. Wilfred's between
1786 and 1967 and it was during the incumbency of
the last, Father Alban Rimmer, that Bishop
Wheeler decided that a larger church should be
built at Garforth, which would be the main parish
church of the Garforth, Aberford and Barwick
area, although an early Sunday mass would
continue to be said at St Wilfred's until the
church was sadly deconsecrated in 1991. It is
now a private house.
Accordingly, St Benedict's church at Garforth
was built and completed in 1964. Unfortunately,
just before the official opening, the roof of the
church collapsed, a design defect having caused
it to cave in under the strain of winter snow.
No one was injured thankfully as the unhappy
event occurred at night, for which Father Rimmer
gave prayers of thanksgiving. This was a great
setback; however three years later, building work
was completed on the new St Benedict's church.
During the period between the collapse of the old
church and the building of its replacement,
Catholics could either attend the 8.30 mass at
Aberford or go to the service at St Joseph's
Priory, Garforth.
The siting of the new church was primarily
intended to accommodate the rapidly expanding
population of Garforth. However, it was
disadvantageous to Catholics in Barwick as there
was no Sunday bus service at all between the
villages and so, in 1968, Bishop Wheeler ordered
a Diocesan reorganisation and Barwick was taken
into the parish of St. Gregory's at Swarcliffe.
It was decided to have services in the
Miners' Institute in Barwick and mass was said
there in May 1968 for the first time by the
parish priest Father McKay. Many Scholes
Catholics now came to Barwick for mass on Sundays
and the congregation usually numbered between 40
and 60. The Institute was a somewhat Spartan
venue - there were no kneelers, so worshippers
were obliged to kneel on the dusty uncarpeted
floor. Wearing ones "Sunday best" wasn't really
appropriate.
In the winter, heating was provided by two
coal fires kindly lit in advance by the
caretaker. Hymn singing was accompanied by a
piano. An altar was contrived out of a kitchen
table standing on wooden blocks and covered by a
thick white cloth with a lacy altar cloth draped
over it. The arduous task of putting the "altar"
together was done on a rota basis by members of
the congregation. The cloth and vessels then had
to be arranged on the altar and hymn books, which
were stored in the Institute, distributed among
worshippers. The altar cloths, the priest's
vestments and the vessels were stored week by
week by members of the congregation who also took
responsibility for washing and pressing the
vestments. In the early days, before St.
Gregory's parish itself increased in size, the
priest would arrive early in Barwick and hear
confessions upstairs in the billiards room of the
Institute.
The services at the Miners' Institute were
often lively affairs. The baby boom was at its
height in the 1970s and on one occasion, twins
were baptised and welcomed into the congregation
before mass. Many children made their first
communions at the Miners' Institute - on one
particular Saturday, ten children at once did so
in the same ceremony, with a party at the
Institute, organised by the Mums and Dads,
following afterwards.
The increase in the population of Barwick
led to Father McKay suggesting that a church be
built in the village. The proposed site was to
be the land on Leeds Road opposite the corner
shop. However the plans were eventually
abandoned because, it seems, of the difficulties
of providing car parking at that spot.
In addition to Sunday services, evening
masses were always held at the Miners' Institute
on holy days of obligation when they occurred on
a weekday as well as Christmas Eve and Christmas
Day mass. Holy days of obligation are so called
because they are important festivals and
Catholics are obliged to attend mass. It was on
one of these occasions, the feast of Corpus
Christi, that the priest and congregation arrived
at 6.30pm to find the Institute double-booked and
another meeting taking place there. One of the
ladies of the congregation suggested that it
would be a good idea to ask the Rector of
Barwick's All Saints C of E church, the Reverend
Roger Wild, if it would be possible for mass to
be said in the Parish Church. The Reverend Wild
agreed, discussions followed and in a very short
space of time, this was settled and, as a very
hospitable gesture, the congregation of All
Saints held a welcoming cheese and wine party for
the Catholics in the church at the first mass in
November 1994. All Saints regular church
organist provided the accompaniment to the hymns.
In the late 1990s, relationships between
Catholics in Barwick and their fellow Christians,
always good, have never been better. Three or
four times a year, ecumenical services are held
at the Village Hall - Catholics, Church of
England and Methodists take it in turns to be
host. Tea and cakes usually follow and these
events are invariably very well attended,
whatever the weather.
Catholicism in Barwick, which has existed
since the building of All Saints Church and maybe
before, is probably more secure in the village
now than it has been for many years. The sharing
of the parish church with the Church of England
for Sunday services and the good relations that
exist between the three congregations, contribute
to this. Let us hope that this happy situation
continues into the next century and beyond. I
would like to thank all those kind people whose
cooperation enabled me to write this article.
