St Michael and St John Church, Clitheroe

St Michael and St John the Evangelist Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England. It is situated on Lowergate road close to the centre of the town. It was founded in 1799 by the Society of Jesus. When the original building became St Michael and St John's Catholic Primary School in 1850, the church moved next to the school.HistoryFoundationFr John Laurenson SJ first came to Clitheroe in 1794. There he started a mission to the local Catholics in the area. He resided in the nearby Stonyhurst College which was run by the Jesuits, and it was from there they did most of their work in the area. In 1798, he was presented with some land on Lowergate so that he could build a church and a school. In 1799, a small chapel was built on the site.ExtensionsBy the nineteenth century, the Catholic population was increasing so the chapel had to be extended and a school was built attached to the chapel. In 1850, a larger church was built next door for the increasing congregation and the chapel was given entirely over to the school. Twenty years later, both the school and the church was again extended. In 1897, a new school was built on the same site, but next to the original one, so that the old chapel and school building were converted into a social centre for the parish. The original 1799 church building, now part of St Michael's Primary School, is a Grade II listed building.ParishIn September 2008, the Jesuits handed the church over to the Diocese of Salford who continue to serve the parish. Two years later, the parish merged with St Mary Queen of Peace Church in Sabden to form the parish of Our Lady of the Valley. St Mary's was built in 1877 and it was made into a parish in 1909, so that the parishioners did not have to travel the sizeable distance to attend Mass in Clitheroe.