All Saints Parish Church - Middlesborough In Pictures All Saints, Middlesbrough, was a Church of England parish which arose from the late 19th century expansion of this northern industrial boom town. It embraced some of Middlesbrough’s grimmest slums but also much of its commercial heartland. The first vicar, Father Alberic Bertie commissioned the church building a characteristically Gothic Revival design by the great G. E. Street. Bertie stood firmly in the doctrinal tradition of the Oxford Movement but only some time after John Burn became vicar in 1884 was full Anglo-Catholic sacramental practice introduced. The region’s most celebrated Anglican priest, Father Burn became controversial both for his ritualis and All Saints’ campaigns against poverty and injustice. Tensions between the church and the Diocese of York over ritual practices outlasted Father Burns’ death and ended only in 1936 by an angreement in which All Saints’ conceeded very little. The changing character of Middlesbrough with population moving from the town centre meant that from about the end of the 1920′s, the number of worshippers at All Saints’ was in decline. Indeed, in 1964 a diocesan commission called for closure of half the town centre parishes including All Saints, however, a vigourous campaign by the vicar, Father Roger Sharpley and members of his congregation saved the church. The petition they organised attracted 17,000 signatures, an indication that in the swinging 60′s the public at large still regarded All Saints’ as a vital part of Middlesbrough life.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:16:22 +0000
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