St. Mary's Newhouse History

There has been a strong Catholic presence in the district north of Preston, even during the reign of Elizabeth I, when it was a perilous matter to be a Catholic. The district, in these difficult times, was well served by having several country houses where priests stayed regularly and where faithful Catholics would meet to share the Eucharist.

One of these houses was, "The Hough", whose chapel was used as a Mass centre from the latter half of the 17th century until it was demolished and Newsham House was erected. In 1896, this became the property of William Smith MP for North Lonsdale.

Earlier, in 1741, a small chapel had been built on a six acre plot of land from "The Hough" estate, purchased from the Dowager, Duchess of Norfolk. This chapel, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was described as, "small and ill made" and was replaced in 1744 by a chapel known as St. Lawrence's Newchapel. Then in 1805 a further chapel, dedicated to St. Mary (to differentiate between the latter on Garstang Road, Barton) was constructed on the site, which served the Catholic community until 1905, when it was replaced by the present beautiful church, the gift of William Smith of Newsham House. It was consecrated on 22nd November 1906 and formally opened in January 1907.

Our School

St Mary's School, Newhouse, opened in 1863, was situated in Station Lane near the railway line. An early comment by an Inspector was, "A small country school, kindly conducted by a respecable mistress." However, as the school grew in size, a larger and better building was required and a new school was built nearer the church and opened in January 1907.

In 1957, a still more modern building came into being, and six years later even this was extended to provide extra classrooms, and a further addition was made in 1970.

Over the last 30 years the school has been greatly modernised and furbished to meet the demands of education in the 21st century and presently serves the Catholic communities of St. Mary's and St. Andrew's, Cottam and is still, "Kindly conducted by a respectable mistress."