A BRIEF HISTORY OF ST JOHN & ST JAMES PARISH In 1793 there were “only four or five Catholics at Tiverton”. These were served by the chaplains of the Nagle family atCalverleigh Court. Two years later, John Palmer Chichester ofArlington Court, publicly recanted his Catholic faith at Exeter Cathedral. His mother and younger brother moved toCalverleigh Courtwith their chaplain and other members of their household. A later chaplain, Abbe Jean Marc Moutier, a French émigré priest, used his savings to establish a fund for a church at Tiverton. He bought the piece of land for the first church and presbytery of St John the Evangelist from John Heathcoat for £196.12s4d. They were built in 1839 at the bottom of Longdrag Hill, Tiverton. In 1816 John Heathcoat had moved his lace factory from Loughborough to a redundant woollen mill at Tiverton to avoid the Luddites. Five hundred of his workers, some of whom were Catholics, followed him on foot. It was often a struggle to maintain the parish. When there was no resident priest, it could be served from as far away asPlymouth or Torquay. However, the number of Catholics grew and in the 1950’s the parish priest, Fr Michael Reid, acquired the land for the present church and presbytery of St James. The intention was to raise enough money from the then popular pastime of bingo, to finance the parish school and eventually to build a larger church though this didn’t happen. St John’s Church was closed in 2004, and eventually sold, as it was no longer large enough, in a state of disrepair and poorly sited for today’s usage.
A RARE WHITE BLACKBIRD IS SNAPPED AT ST JAMES TIVERTON a snow-white blackbird has been spotted in the garden of St James’ church in Tiverton. the bird was not an albino as its eyes were not red (the tell tale sign of an albino), but its plumage was pure white this was a few years ago now
“If anybody would like to expand this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first at churchmicro@gmail.com so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication. There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page found via the Bookmark list”
phillyamily has struck again