St Mary's Church, Wigan

St Mary's Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in the Standishgate area of Wigan, Greater Manchester. It was built in 1818 and is a Grade II* listed building. It is in the Wigan deanery of the Archdiocese of Liverpool. It is within 200 feet of another Catholic church, St John's Church. They were built in a spirit of competition with each other, but now they are run in conjunction together.HistoryFoundationOn 17 March 1818, the foundation stone of the church was laid. Less than a year later, on 27 January 1819, the church was opened. Originally, the church was served by a priest from St Mary's Church, Manchester, also known as The Hidden Gem. It was only with the restoration of the English Catholic hierarchy in 1850 that the church became part of the Archdiocese of Liverpool.ExtensionsWith the Catholic population growing, the church was extended and reopened on 19 October 1851. Those present at the ceremony were the Bishop of Liverpool, George Brown and the Bishop of Southwark, Thomas Grant. A new Lady Chapel was opened two weeks later.In 1859, a Fr Gerard O’Reilly became Rector of the church and, during his time, the organ was rebuilt in 1861, and new pews were installed in 1867.