THE first Roman Catholic church built in the North after the Reformation celebrated its 200th birthday at the weekend.
The 650-strong congregation of Our Lady and St Joseph Church at Brooms, Leadgate, near Consett, County Durham, marked the bicentenary of the original chapel with a series of parties and church services.
Research into the history of the church unearthed some rare treasures. Tommy Young, of Leadgate and District Local History Association, found a screen covered in early photographs of parishioners - some the ancestors of residents still living in the area today.
He used computer technology to enhance and blow up each photograph.
Last week, more than 30 priests and nuns who served the church and its attached school in recent years returned for a Mass conducted by the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, the Right Reverend Ambrose Griffiths.
The church was founded by a group of priests from Douai, France, who were fleeing persecution during the French Revolution of 1789-93. The same group went on to found Ushaw College, near Durham - still a centre for priest training today.
A booklet on the history of the parish, by the local history society, is available from the church for £2.50.
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