Holy Family History
The recent history of the Catholic Faith in Freckleton and Warton starts in 1899 when the church was built. The land was leased from the Clifton family of Lytham and Canon Taylor of Lytham and Fr Gillow of Kirkham combined together to build the church at a cost of £500 partly funded by the Liverpool Arch Diocese. The Church was officially opened on the 30th September 1900 and the sermon was preached by Bishop Whiteside of Liverpool.
In 1907 the presbytery was built out money provided entirely by Fr Gillow and the first Parish priest Fr Roche took up residence. The church was modified in 1913 by the addition of a folding screen towards the rear of the church to provide a school for pupils up to 14 years old, this remained until 1953 after which time pupils were educated outside the village. The present school was built on land purchased whilst Fr FX Whiteside was parish priest and opened in 1974.
The physical structure of the church and the school serve the Parish well and we has a catholic community, through the mission review, need to re-affirm the commitment shown by our ancestors who worked so hard to establish our inheritance. Our legacy should be that the Catholic Faith in Freckleton and Warton should be stronger than that which we inherited.
A detailed history of the parish can be found here.
