About Us
St Herbert's Church
The Parish of St. Herbert, Chadderton, was formed by the Bishop of Salford, Dr. Louis Casartelli, on 1stJune 1916, as a sub-division of Corpus Christi Parish, Hollinwood, South Chadderton.St. Herbert was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the seventh century, who lived the life of a hermit on a small island in Derwentwater in the Lake District. The name was also chosen to commemorate Herbert Vaughan, a former Bishop of Salford, and afterwards Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, who had died in 1903.
The first parish priest, or rector as he was then styled, was Fr. James Lawless, curate at Corpus Christi Church, and the first Mass was celebrated on Sunday 2ndJuly 1916, in the North Chadderton Conservative Club on Victoria Street. In the same year the large Victorian house at 439 Middleton Road, facing the Town Hall, was leased as a presbytery, and was used for weekly Mass and other liturgical functions.
Under Fr. Bartholomew Flynn, the foundation stone of a new school-chapel was laid by Canon Richardson in June, 1902, and this opened in the following year. Fr. Flynn was succeeded by Fr. Francis Oakes who was rector from 1904 until his death in 1930. during which time all missions had become parishes, with their rectors now styled parish priests. His dream to build a permanent church evaded him and it was left to his successor, Fr. William Guinan, to build the present church in 1933. Fr. Guinan died in 1955, and has a window to his memory in the narthex of St. Herbert’s Church.
In early 1981, the former church and parish hall finally passed into history when it was demolished and replaced by the fine, modern Parish Centre. This was officially blessed and opened on 18thDecember 1981, by the Auxiliary Bishop of Salford, Geoffrey Burke. Extended in 1985, it caters for a wide variety of social events for church members and the wider community
- 1959 Joseph Chang
- 1959 T. Joseph Duggan
- 1968 Gerard Haugh
- 1970 John Scanlan (to 1975)
- 1993 David Featherstone (to 1995)
- 1916 James Lawless
- 1924 George A. Tighe
(Created Honorary Canon of Salford Cathedral Chapter in 1967) - 1975 David O’Kane
- 1988 Humphrey McMahon
- 1994 Mark Hawksworth
- 1996 Peter McKie
(Rural Dean of Oldham from 1992 to 2009) - 2018 Gaspar Oladosu
- 2020 Lawrence Imoisili
Contact
St Herbert's
148 Broadway, Chadderton, Oldham, OL9 OJY
Corpus Christi
8 Derby St, Chadderton, Oldham OL9 7HX
+44 161 624 2258
divinemercyoldham@gmail.com
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