St Joseph and St Francis Xavier Church

St Joseph and St Francis Xavier Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Richmond, North Yorkshire. It is situated between Newbiggin and Victoria Road to the south of Richmondshire Cricket Club. The church was built in 1868 and was designed by George Goldie. It was founded by the Society of Jesus and it is a Grade II listed building.HistoryFoundationIn 1794, Fr Thomas Austin Lawson OSB from Downside Abbey came to Richmond to start a mission to the local Catholics of the area. After twenty years of serving the Catholic community, Lawson was recalled to the monastery in 1814 and died there that year.The Jesuits took over the mission and sent Fr Robert Johnson SJ. He served the congregation for fifty years and died in 1865. In 1888, a memorial window to him was installed in the church.ConstructionIn 1866, he was succeeded by Fr William Strickland SJ who saw that the small chapel Lawson and Johnson had used was too small for the growing congregation. He asked the architect George Goldie to design a church that would accommodate the community.In 1868, the church was completed and opened. However, the construction of the church and the nearby school, which became the parish hall, created a sizeable debt for the parish.AdministrationIn 1961, a year before the Second Vatican Council, the Jesuits handed over the administration of the parish to the Diocese of Middlesbrough. The last Jesuit priest there was Fr Edmund Swift SJ. The diocese has continued to serve the parish ever since.