Two Hundred Years for Somerset Parish
The Catholic Parish of The Sacred Heart, in the beautiful Chew Valley,
near Bristol celebrates its bicentenary this year. It is one of the
oldest established Catholic parishes in the West of England, having set
up a permanent Church only 15 years after the law permitted Roman
Catholics to do this.
Several events are planned as a celebration of Catholicism in the Chew Valley. The parish is planning a major event to bring all its parishioners and representatives of the community and other denominations together to mark this historic event. A special event takes place on Saturday 13 May which will focus on an open air Mass concelebrated by senior church clergy and past parish priests.
Mass will be said by Chew’s Parish Priest Father Richard Sullivan, who has starred in a number of religious broadcasts on BBC radio. Father Richard is credited by many as a major contributor to the great success of Catholicism in The Valley in recent years. His enthusiasm knows no bounds. He recently published his first book “Bless and Tell” and a follow up “Bless and Tell 2” plus a new book “Prayerobics” is expected next year.
Sacred Heart is the only Catholic parish in the Chew Valley and Mass is currently celebrated every week at two, churches; The Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Chew Magna and St Mary’s shared church in West Harptree. A third church, St Michael’s, East Harptree, was outgrown by the Catholic population some years ago, it is still used on Holy Days and for some daily services.
Although the Sacred Heart School is now fully independent from the Parish, residents of the Chew Valley will recall the many years when it was run by Sacred Heart’s Catholic nuns.
In May 2006, it will be 200 years since the first permanent chapel in the Chew Valley was opened on 15 May 1806 and Joseph Hunt became the Chew Valley’s first permanent Resident Priest.
Times were very different then. Catholics had been seen as Traitors in Tudor times when England’s principal enemy was Catholic Spain and Catholicism had been outlawed in England for hundreds of years. Although it had been legal for a while, this was only 15 years after an Act of Parliament was passed allowing Catholics to build permanent chapels. As Gill Hogarth, the parish’s archivist states in her forthcoming book (on sale soon!)
“Permission (for Roman Catholics) to build public chapels had been granted by act of Parliament in 1791, this was 1806 but for a long time Catholics were loath to parade their faith too obviously”
The history of the parish largely dates back to two families, the Beaumont family of Wells and Ston Easton, a long standing catholic family (which include Joseph Hunt), and the James family of East Harptree and Hinton Blewett, who were converts from the Church of England.
The Sacred Heart Parish, Chew Valley, has come a long way in the last two hundred years, from that small chapel with a handful of mass goers to the thriving parish with two churches attended by 160 Sunday Mass goers today.
Paul Harper
Several events are planned as a celebration of Catholicism in the Chew Valley. The parish is planning a major event to bring all its parishioners and representatives of the community and other denominations together to mark this historic event. A special event takes place on Saturday 13 May which will focus on an open air Mass concelebrated by senior church clergy and past parish priests.
Mass will be said by Chew’s Parish Priest Father Richard Sullivan, who has starred in a number of religious broadcasts on BBC radio. Father Richard is credited by many as a major contributor to the great success of Catholicism in The Valley in recent years. His enthusiasm knows no bounds. He recently published his first book “Bless and Tell” and a follow up “Bless and Tell 2” plus a new book “Prayerobics” is expected next year.
Sacred Heart is the only Catholic parish in the Chew Valley and Mass is currently celebrated every week at two, churches; The Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Chew Magna and St Mary’s shared church in West Harptree. A third church, St Michael’s, East Harptree, was outgrown by the Catholic population some years ago, it is still used on Holy Days and for some daily services.
Although the Sacred Heart School is now fully independent from the Parish, residents of the Chew Valley will recall the many years when it was run by Sacred Heart’s Catholic nuns.
In May 2006, it will be 200 years since the first permanent chapel in the Chew Valley was opened on 15 May 1806 and Joseph Hunt became the Chew Valley’s first permanent Resident Priest.
Times were very different then. Catholics had been seen as Traitors in Tudor times when England’s principal enemy was Catholic Spain and Catholicism had been outlawed in England for hundreds of years. Although it had been legal for a while, this was only 15 years after an Act of Parliament was passed allowing Catholics to build permanent chapels. As Gill Hogarth, the parish’s archivist states in her forthcoming book (on sale soon!)
“Permission (for Roman Catholics) to build public chapels had been granted by act of Parliament in 1791, this was 1806 but for a long time Catholics were loath to parade their faith too obviously”
The history of the parish largely dates back to two families, the Beaumont family of Wells and Ston Easton, a long standing catholic family (which include Joseph Hunt), and the James family of East Harptree and Hinton Blewett, who were converts from the Church of England.
The Sacred Heart Parish, Chew Valley, has come a long way in the last two hundred years, from that small chapel with a handful of mass goers to the thriving parish with two churches attended by 160 Sunday Mass goers today.
Paul Harper
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