Roman Catholic Chapel of Our Lady and St Hubert, Forest of Bowland

The Roman Catholic Church of St Hubert with associated boundary wall, gate piers and lychgate, was opened in 1865 to the designs of Edward Welby Pugin. Notwithstanding the listing notice, Pugin was solely responsible for the design of the church, his partnership with James Murray (qv) having ended in 1859. James Murray died in 1863. The cost of construction was almost entirely at the expense of Richard Eastwood, estate manager to Charles Towneley, from his winnings when the locally trained racehorse, “Kettledrum” won the Epsom Derby at odds if 16/1 in 1861.

OPENING OF A NEW ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL IN THE FOREST OF BOWLAND - Richard Eastwood Esq, the "Bowbearer" of the Forest of Bowland, having felt the necessity of providing the means of religious worship for the members of his household. and such of his neighbours as are Roman Catholics, has founded a chapel near his residence, "Thorneyholme;" the plans for the building having been furnished by the eminent architect A.W Pugin Esq (sic). Mr. Stuttard, builder, of Burnley, was entrusted with the erection; the work was begun last August, and the building being completed, was opened last Tuesday, with the imposing ceremonial which the Church of Rome provides for her religious services, the occasion being graced with the presence of two bishops and several priests. Hitherto the same community of Catholics of that district have been inconvenienced by the distance which they had to travel to the place of worship belonging to their communication. The nearest chapel was at Chipping, which is seven miles off, while in the other directions the means of public worship were still more distant. Clitheroe being eleven miles away, Stonyhurst twelve, Lancaster fifteen, and Settle seventeen. The new chapel is most delightfully situated, between two and three miles from that charming resort of piscatorians and pleasure seekers, Whitewell, and closely adjoining the noted stud and breading farm of Lieutenant Colonel Towneley, the lord of the Forest of Bowland. It stands near the junction of Langden with the road from Whitewell to Sladburn, and very short distance from the banks of the Ribble's most beautiful tributary, the Hodder. Its commanding position enables it to be seen from the high grounds in the neighbourhood of Whitewell, and indeed from many parts of Longridge Fell, along with the noted establishments of the colonel. In the midst of Alpine scenery by the road side of a picturesque pass, for Longden leads by well-known Trough of Bowland to Lancaster, the little chapel reminds one of the small roadside oratories which are so frequently met with in the Swiss and Rhineland valleys, and which are such picturesque objects in those attractive regions. In the style and characteristics of the little Bowland chapel, Mr Pugin seems to have had the continental edifices in view. The building is in the Gothic style, very early in its character. It consists of a nave and an apse chancel, the latter being lighted with three lancet windows, three windows of similar form being also in the west end of the church. These windows are intended to be of stained glass. but for a few weeks plain glass will have to be in. the "storied windows richly light" not being quite completed. Three windows with semi- circular heads are respectively on the north and the south sides of the nave. At the south-east of the nave the is a commodious sacristy; the entrance to the chapel by a neat porch at the north-west side of the church. Over the west end of the church is a belfry. and surmounting the belfry. as well as on the porch. and on the east end of nave, is a large cross. The chapel, which is dedicated to Our Lady and St Hubert, is built of Longridge stone, and has cost about £700. Mr. Matthew Brown, of Preston. and Laund, Bowland, presented Mr Eastwood with £100 towards the cost of erection, and a few other friends subscribed small sums, but the bulk of the cost has been defrayed by Mr. Eastwood. The land was given by Lieut-Colonel Towneley. The Chapel will seat about one hundred worshippers; the benches, are of pine, stained and varnished. are so constructed as to be available for desks for a school, it being Mr. Eastwood's intention to use the building for a school, as well as a chapel, and no doubt, with the hope that at some future day it may be used as a school alone and a church of more imposing proportions rise by side. The spiritual charge of the new mission has been undertaken by the Jesuit Fathers of Stonyhurst, a priest from which establishment will visit Bowland on Sundays and holiday, until such time as a resident pastor can be provided. [Preston Herald 6 May 1865 page 6]

Richard Eastwood (1801-71), a Burnley lawyer closely associated with the Towneleys, was brought in to manage the Bowland Forest Estate about 1835. A butcher’s son, Eastwood styled himself Bowbearer of the Forest of Bowland but he was every inch the modern estate manager (Chapples 1987: 35). He divided his time between Dunsop Bridge and a Towneley property called Swinshawe Hall near Burnley. On his 5,000 acre Thorneyholme Hall estate, he bred shorthorn cattle, including a prize bull, aptly-named The Duke of Bowland, that he sold to the Duke of Buccleuch for a handsome sum (Sinclair 1907). He also oversaw the running of the Towneley stud at Root Farm from which the 1861 Derby winner Kettledrum emerged (Dixon 1862, 1895). Indeed, it was Eastwood’s winnings from that race that allowed him to found St Hubert’s at Dunsop Bridge, a Pugin-designed Catholic chapel that houses the Towneley family vault and where Eastwood himself, who died in 1871, has his tom.[The Escutcheon Volume 15 Special Number – The Lordship of Bowland].

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Towneley (1803-1876) of Towneley Hall, Burnley, gave the land for the church but so far as can be ascertained, made no other contribution towards the cost of building the church. His father had purchased the Lordship of Bowland in 1836 but in 1885 the estates of the Towneleys, one of Lancashire's great aristocratic families, were broken up following the death of the last male heir.

The church contains a number of references to Colonel Towneley’s racehouse, “Kettledrum,” including a painting of a horse on the ceiling of the sanctuary and carved horses’ heads on columns near the altar. The three-light west window by Capronnier of Brussels (1865), has St Hubert the patron saint of hunters, as a huntsman accompanied by a stag in the central light, and Saints Peter and Paul to the left and right. The east window, also by J B Capronnier, comprises three lancets with the Virgin and Child in the centre, St Anne to the left and St Veronica to the right.

In the churchyard are the vault of Townley family the grave of Richard Eastwood and the grave of Richard Roskell, Bishop of Nottingham who had opened the church.

Reference    Preston Herald 6 May 1865 page 6
Reference    Preston Chronicle 6 May 1865 page 6 – as Preston Herald
Reference    The Escutcheon Volume 15 Special Number – The Lordship of Bowland