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Dedication of church in 1930
Laying of the Foundation Stone
In 1831, the Catholic mission of Our Lady and St. Thomas Aquinas was established at Stella. It was the only Catholic Church between Hexham and Newcastle covering a parish of 150 square miles. The population grew significantly with the advent of the railways, improvements to the River Tyne and the influx of Irish immigrants flowing the famous potato crop failures in Ireland
in the 1840's. Canon Wrennal set up several schools in his large parish. One in particular was built in
Blaydon in 1870, it is still in use today as the Parish Hall. This School was
also used by worshippers as its mission church. On 31st July 1898 this old
school was opened for divine services for the new parish of St. Joseph, Blaydon.
As the population of Blaydon increased, a thanks to generous legacy of over
£7,000 from Mrs Blanche Leadbitter of Ryton who died in 1879, a new larger
school was opened in 1896.
The foundation stone of the Church & presbytery, was laid on 30th September 1903 by Bishop Preston at a cost of £8,500 to £9,000. The buildings were completed in 1905.
On the 31st May 1930, after the dept of the Church had been cleared, the Church was dedicated by Bishop Thorman.
With the building of new housing estates in Winlaton to replace some of the older condemned housing in Blaydon, the parishioners of St. Joseph's built the new parish Church of St. Anne's. This Church was blessed and opened in 1962.
Parish priests who have served at St. Joseph's.
Fr. James Corboy 1896 to 1910
Fr. Thomas Hartley 1910 to 1917
Fr. Gregory Pippet 1917 to 1937
Fr. Dennis Kennedy 1937 to 1957
Rt. Rev. Bishop James Cunningham 1957 to 1958
Fr. Patrick O'Donoghue 1959 to 1978
Fr. Joseph Hughes 1978 to 1980
Fr. Thomas Burke 1980 to 1993
Fr. Sean Hall 1993 to 1997
Fr. Keith Walker 1997 to present
During the years, between 25 to 30 curates have served the parish. |
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