St Stephen's Church, Skipton

St Stephen's Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Skipton, North Yorkshire, England. It is situated next to Ermysted's Grammar School close to the town centre. It was built in 1836 and was founded by the Tempest family and originally administered by the Society of Jesus. It is a Grade II listed building.FoundationDuring the Reformation, the Tempest family held Masses in their family home Broughton Hall. A priest would regularly travel there to provide for the local Catholics from 1648. In January 1694, a Jesuit, Fr Thomas Burnett SJ came to the house and resided there until he died in 1727. From then on, Broughton served as a residence for Jesuit priests to administer to the local Catholic population.ConstructionIn 1836, seven years after Catholic emancipation the foundation stone for the church was laid by Charles Tempest. A dispute arose between the new parish priest Fr Michael Trappes and Charles Tempest on whether the church would be a parish church, which would be under the priest's supervision, or a family chapel, owned by the Tempests. It meant that the church was not opened five years after it was completed. Finally, the Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District, John Briggs solved the dispute by permitting the Tempests to nominate a priest and pay for the running costs of the church.