A Brief History


The Parish of St Anne's was founded in 1732 and has always been served by Benedictine monks. At that time the Mass Centre was a house in Aughton Street until a chapel was built in 1747 on part of the site of the Social Centre. That one was replaced in 1795 by another which served until the present church was opened in 1850. Much of the stone for the building is said to have come from quarries at Parbold.
Over the years many small additions and alterations have been made to the church. Statues, stained glass windows, stations of the cross and memorials have been added at various times, mostly donated by individual families or societies. The Sanctuary was extended in the 1950s to provide a longer Communion rail to accommodate the increasing numbers of people receiving Holy Communion.
The central aisle was created in the 1980s when all the benches were stripped, repolished and shortened. More than 100 seats were lost but the aisle gives us a fine processional way and leads the eye up to the beautiful high altar and stained glass window.
The sanctuary was reordered in 1992 to bring the liturgical action nearer to the congregation. No doubt other changes will be made in the future, for as a family adapts a house to its needs, so a lively parish will modify the church which is at its corporate life, trying always to fulfil the Benedictine motto
"In omnibus glorificetur Deus" - "May God be glorified in all things".