Chapter II: The Priests of the Nineteenth Century

Chapel of St. Werburgh, Queen Street. Exterior view.

Laying the foundations

The story of the growth of the Catholic Church in Chester between the years 1794 and 1882 must rightly begin with an account of the priests who devoted their lives to furthering that growth. The secular priests working during those years, in what was to become St. Werburgh's parish, numbered ten. Several of them were men of outstanding character and ability. Two became Vicars Apostolic of the Northern District. All of them were zealous and devoted pastors, who faced and overcame enormous difficulties of every kind in their labour for souls. The modern Church in Chester is built upon the foundations they laid. To their number must also be added, after 1858, the Capuchin Friars, who founded the Church and parish of St. Francis in Grosvenor Street.

The first among them was Father James Lancaster, who was in charge of the Mission, in succession to Father Kitchen, from 1794 to 1796. Like his two predecessors, he was born in Lancashire, in the year 1765, and at the age of sixteen he entered the seminary at Douai. Here, as will be explained later, his career was rudely interrupted by the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, and the attack on the College by French troops. He was in the group of students who managed to escape imprisonment, and he arrived safely back in England, to be ordained at York in December, 1793. Chester was assigned to him as his first Mission, but he remained only two years, from 1794 until 1796, before moving back to his own county of Lancashire. He seems, however, to have returned before the end of his life, presumably as assistant, for he died in Chester in October, 1827.1

James Lancaster was succeeded by Thomas Penswick, one of the most remarkable priests of this period, who was eventually to become Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District. He was born in the Manor House, Ashton-in-Makerfield on March 7th, 1772, the second son of Mr. Thomas Penswick, who was then Steward to the Gerards of Bryn. He received his early education at Haighton House, near Preston, a boarding school which had been established a few years previously by Peter Newby.

Peter Newby, who had himself tried his vocation to the priesthood at Douai, was a teacher of great distinction. His obituary in the Preston Chronicle describes his school as "the only Catholic establishment of any repute in Lancashire at that time", and it continues, "many Catholic gentlemen are indebted to him for their classical acquirements".2

It was under his inspiration and guidance that more than one of his pupils found their way to Douai and the priesthood. Among them was Thomas Penswick, who arrived there on January 26th, 1788, when he was sixteen years of age.3 He would have been received by William Gibson, who was then President of the College. The College was already two hundred years old when he entered it. It had been founded originally by Cardinal Allen in 1568, as a seminary to supply priests for the English Mission. By the time Thomas Penswick commenced his studies, it also included a grammar school for Catholic boys, whose parents were prevented by the penal laws from educating their sons as Catholics in England. The content of the studies in the school was similar to that taught in an English Grammar or Public School of the period, with the addition, of course, of instruction in their Faith. Since the staff was much larger than in any English school, the education it provided surpassed its equivalent in England. The boys of the same class remained in a self-contained unit, called a "school", with their own classroom and master. The number in a "school" rarely exceeded twenty, so that the boys must have been receiving virtually private tuition. After their Humanities, as their studies of the classics were called, at about the age of twenty, many stayed on for the two-year Philosophy Course, which gave them the equivalent of the University Course, from which they were debarred by the Test Act. It was only after this that students intending to go on for the priesthood, i.e. about 25% of the total, proceeded to their Theology Course.

It is possible to follow Thomas Penswick's career in the Register kept by the Prefect of Studies,4 from his arrival until 1793, when, as will be seen, it was abruptly altered. First of all, he was placed in the top "school" of Rudiments where the Latin he had begun under Peter Newby stood him in good stead, and to which he added the learning of Greek. In 1789, he went up into the Grammar "school", but before the year was over, he was promoted to the "Syntax school". During the next four years, his career can be traced, as he moved up the different "schools", until at the age of twenty, he was among the "high" philosophers, whose goal was philosophy and some physical science. Then comes the entry in the Register for 1793, "Thomas Penswick. Went October 12th". What, then, had happened, to bring about so sudden a departure?

The story of the preceding months in Thomas Penswick's life is worth relating, because it illustrates so vividly the character of the man whom the Catholics of Chester were to know as their priest. It was marked by the daring, the stubborn determination and the energy which are the features of Lancashire folk. In 1792, the political situation in Europe was dark and threatening. In France, the Bourbon monarchy had fallen before the onslaught of the Revolutionaries, the Reign of Terror was sending hundreds to the guillotine, and all Church property had been nationalised. Though English parents had already been withdrawing their boys from Douai, the town still seemed safe enough, since it was situated in the Netherlands, and therefore under Austrian rule. But by the end of the year, the French armies had over-run the Netherlands and in January, 1793, England declared war on France. The five British religious establishments in Douai were trapped. Armed guards were placed in the College, the entrances were closed, and the rooms sealed.5

The guards, however, had not counted on the Lancashire students! Thomas Penswick and three other students, all chosen for their prudence and daring, scaled the College walls, and secreted some of the College property in the town. Then they buried the church plate in the College grounds, and the refectory plate under a classroom floor.6 Meanwhile, the staff and students, including Thomas's brother, John, were moved from one place to another, until they were finally imprisoned in Doullens, in Picardy. Here they remained until 1794, when they were allowed to go to England.

On Saturday, October 12th, 1793, while the students were being marched under guard to the Scottish College before their final transfer to Doullens, Penswick managed to escape, with the help of a countryman who supplied the College with firewood. Hence the note in the Prefect's Book, already quoted. With him went six others, including James Lancaster, then a deacon. Evading detection, they reached the coast in safety, but the English Consul, thinking they were French, refused to give them passports, so they crossed over to England without them.

By February, 1794, twenty one Douai students, including six destined for the Northern Vicariate, had made their way to Old Hall in Hertfordshire. Relations, however, between the southerners and northerners became strained, and expressions like "Cockney impertinence, before which the blood of the North did not quail" and "Lancashire blackguards" were bandied around.7 In the end, the Northerners, including Penswick, petitioned their own bishop to take them away. According to Ushaw tradition, Penswick and three others set out on foot, with their luggage in a wheelbarrow, heading north for Crook Hall, Durham. It was here that he was ordained on April 1st, 1797.

The Mission in Chester was Thomas Penswick's first appointment. He was just twenty five years of age when he arrived there. In his later life as Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District, he was described as "a handsome man, affable, generous and diligent".8 Now, the experiences of the last four years must have matured him. He took up his new missionary labours with an energy and enthusiasm which soon became apparent in the Catholic life of Chester.

As a bishop, one of his great aims was to develop the urban chapels of his Vicariate, and doubtless in this, he was able to make use of his own experiences in Chester and also in Liverpool. One of the first tasks he set himself in Chester was the building of a proper chapel and presbytery. With the influx of Irish immigrants, the Catholic population was rapidly expanding, and a new chapel was urgently needed. By now, the prohibition against saying and hearing Mass had been lifted, though chapels had still to be registered at Quarter Sessions. Father Penswick obtained land in Queen Street, and by April, 1799, only two years after his arrival, he had the chapel open and registered.9 No details have survived to show how he obtained the money or purchased the land. A list of "Masses to be said in perpetuity", which now hangs in the sacristy of St. Werburgh's Church begins with "Twenty four Masses a year for the Irish merchants". They may well have been the benefactors who came to his assistance.

The chapel was built on the west side of Queen Street, and it was evidently regarded by the inhabitants of Chester as a building worthy of their city. Shortly after its erection, it was described in a Directory as "a small but handsome brick building, with an elegant doric portico, supported by four pillars". We do not know what the interior looked like in 1799. In 1850, it was said to be "of chaste appearence, with the altar beautifully decorated, and an admirable painting of the Crucifixion over the cross".

This chapel was to become dear to many generations of Chester Catholics right down to modern times, first as their chapel, and later, when the present St. Werburgh's church was built, as the school where they were educated. It was demolished as recently as 1966 and today the site is used as a car-park. The cross which once surmounted the gable end has been preserved by the present parish priest [Fr Francis Murphy], and has been re-erected in the grounds of the new Catholic Social Centre in Brook Street.

When Daniel O'Connell, the famous "Catholic Emancipator" died in Turin on his way to Rome in 1854, in accordance with his wishes, his heart was sent to Rome, and his body to Ireland. On its way to Glasnevin, the coffin rested overnight in the chapel in Queen Street.

The choice of Queen Street was a wise one. It lay back from the busy thoroughfare which traverses the city, but was near enough to it to be accessible and its pleasant, airy situation must have been a welcome change from Parry's Entry. The prejudice against building a papist chapel was still there. While it was being built, it was frequently demolished during the night, until ultimately volunteers from the Connaught Rangers, stationed at Chester at that time, guarded it regularly until well after it was completed. The new presbytery was built at right angles to the chapel, with its entrance on Union Walk. Beyond them both lay the small Catholic burial ground. The house in Union Walk must, at first, have been rented, since in 1836 Penswick's successor, John Briggs, listed among his expenses, £2. 10s. for "house rent in Union Walk".

In addition to the building of a chapel, where his flock might at last hear Mass and receive the Sacraments unmolested,10 his zealous care is reflected in the number of their children whom he baptised on the day of their birth or almost immediately afterwards. We know this from the earliest Baptism Register, which he began.11 This bears on its flyleaf the statement, "Begun by Thomas Penswick", and as the first entries go back to 1794, he must also have copied up names of children baptised by his predecessor, James Lancaster. The meticulous care, as well as the elegant penmanship, with which all the details of the entries are made, bring out clearly his zeal as a priest, and the diligence which those who knew him remarked on.

The esteem in which Thomas Penswick was held by his fellow priests, and also the importance in his eyes of the Chester Mission, is illustrated by an incident which occurred in 1810. There was question of transferring him to York, in order to release the priest there for the Ushaw Presidency. With the support of the Lancashire clergy, he wrote to his bishop, refusing "to budge until he knew the name of the man who would succeed him".12 Clearly, he had lost none of the forthright spirit which characterised him in his younger days. He may have been afraid, also, that Chester would be left without a priest. He was allowed to remain on, but not for long. In 1814, he was appointed to the new chapel of St. Nicholas, Copperas Hill, Liverpool, later to become the pro-cathedral for Liverpool. Twelve years afterwards, he was consecrated co-adjutor to Bishop Smith, the Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District, whom he succeeded in 1831. As bishop, he did not forget his first congregation, but "sent his compliments to all his friends at Chester", when there was occasion to write. He died in 1836, aged sixty three, in his old home at Ashton-in-Makerfield, where his brother, Randal, had brought him in his failing health.