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Sue was licensed as Team Vicar on Sept.14th 2005 |
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From left to right:
Dennis Black Churchwarden Rev’d Dr John Applegate Archdeacon of Bolton Rev’d Rod Bevan Team Rector Rev’d Wendy Oliver Area Dean Rev’d Sue Davies Team Vicar Rt. Rev’d Nigel McCulloch Bishop of Manchester Jesse Lord Churchwarden |
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part of the Anglican communion |
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A Church of England in the diocese of Manchester. |
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St Nicholas Church with St John and St Michael
Founded 1511—listed 2* |
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Recent History |
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Parish Registers There are several places where access to the parish registers can be obtained. The Church holds all of the most recent registers from about 1850 which are fairly easy to read. There is a standard charge of £19.00 levied by the Church of England for access to the registers and the location of graves. Unmarked graves can take a couple of hours to locate and even then it might prove impossible to locate as the very old grave yard was grassed over some years ago and many of the gravestones were relocated.
Photocopies of any entry can be produced within the church. Researchers are advised to note the opening times of the Church as someone will always be available after each service. From April to September the Church is also open every Friday from 10.30 –12.30pm. Outside these hours contact needs to be made with the Vicar.
The Lancashire Parish Register Society will have copies of most of the records and some of the early ones: 1653-1723 which were written on parchment, have been transcribed and are now on computer disc—this is probably the best way of quickly identifying a record, as they are difficult to read from the original parchment. They can be contacted via the link below. The Church has a record of all the monument inscriptions in the church and the churchyard.
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/lprs/
The local library in Rawtenstall have microfiche copies of most if not all of the original registers and these can be viewed free of charge at the library. The very old original parchment copies of the church records can be viewed on request in the Diocesan section of Manchester Central Library but many will require the use of UV light and a magnifying glass to read.
Rawtenstall library has parish registers on microfiche with the following dates: 1606-8; 1616; 1618; 1621-23; 1624; 1626-27; 1629-31; 1633-36; 1638; 1640-41; 1658-61; 1663; 1665-75; 1677; 1678-88; 1690-96; 1700-20; 1721-35; 1736-39; 1745-47; 1748-49; 1750-51; 1753-59; 1761-75; 1753-59; 1761-75; 1776-90; 1791-1803.
Other reels cover baptisms, marriage and burials from 1723. Records are also available for St Michael’s Church—Lumb, St James Church –Waterfoot and St John’s Church-Lower Cloughfold. |
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Information on Parish Registers at bottom of page. The area served by the church was gradually reduced from 1788 when St John’s, Bacup was built followed by St Mary’s, Rawtenstall in 1838, Holy Trinity, Tunstead in 1840 and St Michael’s Lumb, in 1846, and Christ Church, Bacup in 1854. St James’s Church in Waterfoot which was built in 1863 and consecrated in 1865, also took a portion of the parish of Newchurch and the parish of Waterfoot came into being. Further parts were lost to the parish of St Anne, Edgeside by Order in Council 31st Dec 1886 and to St John, Cloughfold by Order in Council 25th March 1887. The parishes of St Nicholas and St John merged by Order in Council 24th May 1973. On the 24th February 1985, the Right Reverend Stanley, Bishop of Manchester consented to St John’s, Cloughfold, merging with St Nicholas to form a new benefice belonging to the archdeaconry of Bolton, whose first incumbent was the Rev’d Alan Trevor Toombs. Her Majesty gave permission for this to occur on the 20th March 1985. St Michael’s Church, Lumb, was also incorporated into the parish of St Nicholas and St John in 1985. It was made redundant on December 1st. 2001. The nearby church of St James, Waterfoot, closed on 22nd. November 1998 and parts of the parish were incorporated into St Nicholas, Newchurch and St Anne’s, Edgeside. The stations of the cross, the sanctuary bell and six high altar candlesticks were relocated from St James to St Nicholas.
A Narthex was created in the church in 1973 to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the building of the present church, and the font was relocated at the same time at the West end. On July 8th 1976 it was proposed to erect a Flagstaff to the side of the main entrance in memory of one Susan Holmes. Only the base fitting now remains.
By Order of Council on the 17th May 2000 the benefice of St Anne’s, Edgeside and that of the benefice of Newchurch were united to create a new benefice called “The Benefice of Rossendale Middle Valley”, belonging to the archdeaconry of Bolton and the deanery of Rossendale. It was at this time that the present team ministry was established with a team Rector and a team Vicar.
The present day church underwent extensive repairs under the supervision of the architect Graham D Holland of Knutsford, Cheshire in 1986, to remove the ravages of dry rot and render the church weatherproof. A new architect, Mr John Pritchard of Evans, Pritchard of Manchester, was engaged on the 19th September 1999 to oversee the releading of the tower roof and reroofing of the nave.
On the 9th May 2003 the church was granted Listed Building 2* status. [ Ref: SD83422233 : 255/6/174 : 7/6/71 ] It was informed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, having consulted with the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England, on the 14th May. The building is recognized to be of special architectural and historic interest having a ‘Special atmosphere enhanced by rich fittings especially in the later chancel.’
For the first time in its history it has a woman priest, the Rev’d Sue Davies, licensed by the Bishop of Manchester on Sept 14th. 2005—a former teacher who had served as an NSM curate firstly in the Monmouth group of parishes in Monmouth, South Wales and then the grouped parishes of St Peter’s-Goetre and St Bartholomew's-Llanover—also in South Wales. Parish Church records of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials are available from 1653 although many are now located in the Manchester Central Library Archives Department where they were relocated in the Diocesan Record Section in January 1982. by the Rev. A Toombs. Click the link to see a name list of former Incumbents from 1511. Incumbents Click the link to see photographs of some more recent incumbents. Photographs
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