The Religious Heritage of
The North West
The North West has a rich and diverse religious
heritage, a heritage that can be traced from pre-historic times to
the present day via the vast network of sacred sites to be found in
the region.
From the Stone Circle at Castlerigg in Cumbria which was built around 3000BC to evidence
of the Roman religion that was introduced by occupying legions into
the region and which can be found at sites along
Hadrian’s Wall.
From the Christian burial grounds and ecclesiastical sites of
the sub-Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods, evidenced by the
spectacularly situated rock-cut tombs and multiple churches of St.
Patrick at Heysham Head, overlooking Morecambe Bay, to the ruins of
monasteries such as Lanercost Priory that speak of the decline of
the monastic ideal and the conflict between Church and secular
leaders in the later Middle Ages.
Always a stronghold of Catholicism, one can visit
the execution site of the15 Catholics who were martyred between 1584
and 1646 in Lancaster, and then travel across the Forest of Bowland
to the spectacular setting of Stoneyhurst College which
was re-established in 1791 for wealthier Catholics following the
French Revolution and the return to England of many exiled Catholics.
The region is home to the largest number of Catholic churches to be
found anywhere in the country, a significant number of which are
fine examples of the Byzantine-Romanesque revival in church
architecture.
The history of Quakerism in the region can be explored and
understood through
visits to the Quaker tapestry in Kendal and the early 18th-century
Friends' Meeting House in Lancaster. And not forgetting Mother Anne Lee,
an outspoken Quaker who, in 1772, was ejected from the Collegiate
Church in Manchester (now the
Cathedral) and who subsequently sailed to
America
with her followers to found the Shaker movement.
From the simplicity of rural Methodist chapels and the
Victorian gothic grandeur of large numbers of Anglican parish
churches to our mediaeval country churches – all the silent keepers
of 13 centuries of history, signposts to our heritage, points where
one can touch the past, as well as places of great visual and
spiritual wonder. Of the 12,200 Anglican churches that are listed
Grade I or II, a significant number are in the
North West.
Manchester
has the second largest Jewish population outside
London, and in more recent years, the
considerable numbers of people who have come to settle in the region
from the Indian sub-continent have brought with them their own
religious and cultural traditions.
The North West now has more
than 40 Synagogues, 156 Mosques, 17
Hindu
Temples and 3 Gurdwaras,
bringing an additional dimension to the richness of our sacred
heritage.
