History of The Lutterworth Parish

Although in 1980 we celebrated the Centenary of the then current church buildings, the Catholic Church in Lutterworth did not begin in 1880. There is little doubt that there was a church – and therefore a Catholic church – in Lutterworth in Saxon times.

It is thought that the parish of St. Mary’s Lutterworth was founded during Norman de Verdun’s tenure of the Manor from 1139 to 1192. Norman was a son of Bertrum de Verdun, who had many possessions in the Midlands including the manors of Misterton, Cotesbach, Bittesby and Cotes de Val. Bertrum’s principal home was the ruin you now see when you go to Alton Towers.

In 1224, Hugh de Wells, the then Bishop of Lincoln in which diocese Lutterworth was located, established a record of churches in his diocese and the de Verduns were listed as patrons and owners of Lutterworth church.

In 1374 John Wyclif was presented with the rectory of Lutterworth, ten years before his death.

It is in the church of St Mary’s that the next part of our history begins. One day in 1577 Robert Sutton, the then incumbent called his parishioners together in the church and, no doubt to their surprise and consternation, asked their forgiveness for teaching them erroneous Protestant doctrine, renounced his ministry and told them he hoped to become a Catholic priest. At the time it was very brave, in fact some would say foolhardy, to make such a public pronouncement of his intention rather than simply to ‘disappear’. He rode to London with his younger brother Abraham en route to the continent to begin their studies.

Our Robert Sutton, (not to be confused with another martyr of the same name who came from the Kegworth area) was born in Burton on Trent. He was baptised in St Modwen’s Parish Church on 11^th September, 1545. The son of a carpenter, he was one of four sons who were all brought up as Protestants. Later, three of them became Catholic priests.

In 1561 Robert Sutton became an undergraduate at Christchurch College, Oxford, where he gained his BA in 1564. He was ordained an Anglican Minister in 1566 and gained his MA in 1567. Under Elizabeth 1^st he was appointed to the living of Lutterworth and was inducted on 17th June, 1571. So Robert was only 32 when he made his historic announcement and set in train the events which he no doubt knew all along were likely to end with painful martyrdom.

Robert was arrested again and was tried for treason on the basis of his being a Catholic Seminary Priest at Stafford Assizes in June 1588.

He was martyred at Gallows Flat, Stafford on July 27^th 1588. As was the practice he was hanged, cut down while still alive, disembowelled and dismembered. As commanded his body was left on public display for 12 months. During that time his bones were picked clean by the birds except for the flesh around one forefinger and thumb which did not corrupt. Why that part of him should remain is open to conjecture, but he would certainly have used is forefinger and thumb to hold the sacred host.

The relic was passed on to his brother Abraham who, in spite of a second arrest, was still working in Lancashire as late as 1610. He passed the relic on to Father John Gerrard who composed a note of authentication in Latin. This note, written within 40 years of Robert Sutton’s martyrdom, has accompanied the relic from that time and is still in existence.

“The thumb of Mr Robert Sutton priest, who, when in prison in Stafford, the night before his passion was seen to pray surrounded by a great light. After the parts of his body being exposed to the birds of the air for a year, they were carried away by Catholics. The thumb and forefinger were untouched though the rest was consumed to the bones.”

Father Gerrard gave the relic and the note to the Jesuit order. From around 1830 the relic was venerated at Stoneyhurst College where it remained until 1987. In that year thanks to the co-operation and generosity of the Jesuits, it was permanently translated back to Lutterworth and is reserved in a niche within the altar.

According to unpublished accounts of the parishes of Leicestershire by the late Canon D G Sweeney, the first regular Masses to be celebrated in Lutterworth since the reformation were said once a week by a Father Martin, chaplain to the Earl of Denbigh at Newnham Paddox, just over the Warwickshire border.

In 1879 Lord Braye succeeded to the title and to the family seat of nearby Stanford Hall. He immediately began the erection of a domestic chapel to replace an earlier one which had been used from 1869 to 1875. This earlier chapel had been dedicated to St Alphonsus – hence the twin dedication of this church today.

In 1880 Lord Braye brought Father (later Canon) Alfred Hazeland, whom he had known as a fellow student at Prior Park, to serve the market town and at the same time to be domestic chaplain at Stanford Hall. After his ordination, on 20th September 1873, Father Hazeland spent about six years teaching at Prior Park, followed by less than a year as curate at St Nicholas’, Bristol. From Bristol he came to Lutterworth to the parish which he founded and remained here as parish priest for an incredible sixty years! He died on St Patrick’s Day 1940 and was buried in the little cemetery in the ground alongside the church.

In 1881, the Earl of Denbigh presented the mission with a three and a quarter acre site on the Bitteswell Road – the present site. Plans were drawn up for a new church by Canon Hazeland himself. The church was opened on 11^th August 1881 and both the presbytery and the church remained virtually unchanged for almost 100 years.

The total cost of the house and church amounted to £1,500, of which £200 came from the Earl of Denbigh and the remainder from Father Hazeland. He also supplied all of the furniture in the house, and much of that in the church and sacristy too. In fact by 1896 he claimed a life interest in the parish property “having sacrificed his own private fortune of £1,200 in building and improving and maintaining same”.

(Above)  The Church as it was originally built.  The narrow sanctuary had been designed so that it could be shut off from the body of the church with folding wooden doors. The church was then used during the week as a school – certainly from 1883 and possibly from 1881.

(Right)  The altar of Our Lady Of Victories & St. Alphonsus taken from a postcard sent from Switzerland by Lord Braye to Canon Hazeland, circa 1910

The photo shows the original church entrance porch, about 4 foot square (at the right hand end of the building as seen in the photograph above).

It stood where the entrance to the new lady chapel is today.

Originally, to gain access one would enter the white door shown to the right of the three windows and turn sharp left to enter the nave, under the choir loft, through a further door, just about where now the second last bench is situ. Facing this further door was the second white  door in the photo. Its purpose was to allow coffins to be taken in and out in a straight line.

It would have been impossible for a coffin to make the left hand turn without standing it up on end – with disastrous consequences for the poor corpse.  This was used until Parish Priest Father Feeley arranged for an extension to be built onto what was the back wall of the Church.

The link with Stanford Hall has remained strong for over one hundred years. Mass was said by the parish priest in the chapel at the hall weekly and then monthly until around 1976. The present Lady Braye is a member of the parish and both her father and mother are remembered fondly by many of the longer attending parishioners.

Largely due to the initiative and persistence of Councillor Len Drage, Canon Hazeland’s name and his contribution to the life of Lutterworth during his sixty years here, are remembered by Hazeland Court being named in his memory.

Records of the middle years of our parish are few. Canon Hazeland’s 90th birthday in 1937 was recorded in the Diocesan Year Book, as was his obituary in 1940. In 1950 it was recorded that:

“A kind donor has built and paid for a sacristy in rustic brick which has come out very well… Also we have a shrine in honour of the Venerable (now Blessed) Robert Sutton – who was converted here in the Parish church some 200 years after John Wyclif was vicar in the same building..: A statue of Our Lady has been presented to the church – all replete in gold and blue and vermilion.”

This later view of the interior of Our Lady of Victories & St. Alphonsus shows the remains of the arch over the altar.

In Canon Hazeland’s days there were doors which were closed to block out the Sanctuary when the schoolchildren were in the Church for their lessons.

Sadly, although Cannon Hazeland’s stewardship is well and justifiably documented the contribution of the incumbents which followed him are sketchy to say the least.

According to Father Feeley, the parish priest since 1976 (?) Canon Hazeland was followed in 1940 by a Father Timothy Shanaghan. After him followed, but possibly not in this order, Father Tierney from the Sacred Heart parish in Leicester, who moved on to Swadlincote, and a Father Danny Ainsworth.

One of the better known parish priests was Father McDonagh who was often seen on long walks around the district. In later life Father McDonagh suffered from Parkinson’s disease and eventually had to be relieved of his duties. He was looked after in his later years by the Blue Nuns.

Father (I think Gerald) Jordan, a member of the Sacred Heart Fathers, replaced Father McDonagh at some time before 1969 and for many years during Father Jordan’s time here Sister Michael, from the convent in Harborough, came over each week in term time to give the children their religious instruction.

1980 was a watershed in the parish. It marked the centenary of the newly established Catholic parish of Lutterworth, the silver jubilee of the then relatively new parish priest Father John Feeley and more or less the beginning of a building programme which has continued to the present day. Until that point Canon Hazeland would have recognised virtually every brick and feature!

In 1978, largely due to an anonymous donation, the original cramped sanctuary was expanded by the demolition of the confessional to the left and the store room to the right. The ornate stone altar was brought forward to conform to the then new changes in the liturgy, and an additional sacristy was built to provide a robing room for the priest, and a new confessional. It was around this time that the original choir loft was removed.

This view shows the interior of the Church after the internal walls on the altar were removed, making more space.

In 1980 building began to add an extension which was bigger than the church itself. This provided a narthex, meeting room, kitchen and toilet facilities. Many people were involved in fund raising. One idea was for people to buy a brick and sign their name on it. Their names are concealed in the walls around us.

Since then the development has continued. A further new narthex has been added with the 1980 one being incorporated to extend the church, and in 1996 the old deteriorating sacristies were replaced with bigger and better, a storeroom cum boiler room, additional meeting room and a splendid but simple Lady Chapel were added

The finishing touch was the provision in 1998 of a new stone altar. It was designed by a specialist church artist and sculptor Carmel Cauchi from Nuneaton, who also painted the icon of Our Lady of Sorrows which hangs to the left of the sanctuary. The money for the new altar was raised by donation from the parishioners within four weeks! The names of all the donors, together with their personal dedications, were placed beneath the altar as it was installed.

It is fitting that the end of the building development was the replacement of a wooden altar with a stone one. The historical and liturgical significance of a stone altar of sacrifice replacing a wooden communion table brings us neatly back to the events current at the time Blessed Robert Sutton left St Mary’s.

This view shows the interior of the Church after the most recent building work was completed after the year 2000.  The original wall on the left side was moved outward by several feet to provide more space and a stained glass window was added next to the side chapel.  The blue pillars show where the old wall stood.

This view shows the interior of the Church after the internal walls on the altar were removed, making more space.