Burnley Road, Crawshawbooth
The area of Higher Booths was reliant on St Mary & All Saints at Goodshaw to provide a place of worship for the Anglican community from the mid-sixteenth century. By the 1880s, with the rapidly increasing population of Crawshawbooth, it was unable to cope, with the demand for pews being fifty applicants for every pew vacancy.
At the same time as this rise in population the Brooks family where also rising in prestige and wealth. The Brooks family, who were cattle dealers from Whalley, came to Crawshawbooth at the turn of the 18th century acquiring Sunnyside House and then added Crawshaw Hall in 1831. They owned Sunnyside Print works and also a number of quarries in the Rossendale area from which a lot of the local houses and mills were built. In 1884 Thomas Brooks became High Sheriff of Lancashire and was created Baron Crawshaw in 1892. They also had houses at Tarporley in Cheshire and Long Whatton, Leicestershire.
In 1888 Thomas Brooks donated the land and £3,000 towards the building of St John the Evangelist (total cost approx. £12,000), the exterior of which is built of local stone with `York` stone dressing and the interior is red Rainhill sandstone. The Church which was consecrated 25th October 1892 is often referred to as "The Cathedral of Rossendale". The Church was originally served by the vicars of Goodshaw, but in 1899 it was created an independent Parish and remained so until 1984 when the benefice became a joint one with Goodshaw.
"Have you not yet seen the new church, gentle reader? Then do so at once. It is a model of beauty... A more picturesque site for a church does not exist in Rossendale..."
Rossendale Free Press, Oct. 18th 1892
Parish registers
Baptisms 1892 - 2001
Marriages 1900 - 2001
All the Parish registers are still with the incumbent. (A printed copy of the registers up to the above dates are with the Rossendale branch and Rawtenstall Library Local Studies).
Because of the size of the grounds in which it stands, St John's as never had a burial ground and all interments took place at St Mary & All Saints Goodshaw.
Vicars and Curates of | ||
St John the Evangelist, Crawshawbooth | ||
With St Mary & All Saints, Goodshaw | ||
| 1892 | -1892 | Rev. A Spencer |
| 1893 | -1899 | Rev. Alfred Bedson |
As an independent Parish | ||
| 1900 | -1912 | Rev. George Herbert Downes |
| 1912 | -1917 | Rev. F Rupert Mills |
| 1917 | -1920 | Rev. Nathaniel John Poole |
| 1920 | -1926 | Rev. Frank Paton Williams |
| 1927 | -1929 | Rev. John Coakley |
| 1930 | -1940 | Rev. Alfred Eames |
| 1940 | -1948 | Rev. Stanley Mitchell |
| 1948 | -1953 | Rev. R. D. St John Smith |
| 1953 | -1960 | Rev. A Edwards |
| 1960 | -1971 | Rev. Hugh Sowden |
| 1972 | -1975 | Rev. G. V. H. Eliot |
| 1976 | -1979 | Rev. Kenneth George Bachell |
| 1979 | -1982 | Rev. Richard Watson-Williams |
| 1983 | -1987 | Rev. Ronald Watson |
With St Mary & All Saints Goodshaw 1984 onwards | ||
| 1987 | -1993 | Rev. Canon Ralph Edward Mallinson |
| 1994 | -1998 | Rev. Dr. John Andrew Armes |
| 1999 | -2008 | Rev. Wendy L. Oliver |
| 2010 | Rev. Jennifer Montgomery | |
Curates | ||
| 1988 | -1993 | Rev. Alice Gillian Swallow |
| 1996 | -1999 | Rev. Eric John Lomax |
St John the Evangelist, Crawshawbooth - Centenary Booklet 1892 - 1992
| Frontpage | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
