TOMORROW marks 150 years since Millom Roman Catholic Church held its first mass in the humble surroundings of a smithy.

The cramped and unusual setting was on Holborn Hill and attracted more than 100 people from the new mining and iron-making town and the surrounding area.

In 1867 Millom was a building site, with new buildings springing up to provide homes for families drawn from all over the British Isles.

Among them were Non-Conformists from Devon, Cornwall and Scotland and Roman Catholics from mining areas of Ireland, such as copper-rich Wicklow.

They all wanted places to worship but had to make use of anything available until the money was found to build churches and chapels.

An article in the Evening Mail on March 9 in 1967 celebrated the centenary of that first mass and described plans for a dinner, dance and social evening.

It noted: “Father James Crolly was the first priest in the town and the present priests Father Bernard McKenna and Father John Cahalane explained that although there are no official records of the church in those days, they do have Father Crolly’s diary.

“His entry for March 17, 1867, recorded the mass in the smithy with a congregation of 122 people from Millom and the surrounding hamlets.”

There were differing views on which of the three smithies on Holborn Hill played host to the first mass.

The article noted: “On May 5 the same year, the chapel school and house were built.

“Some years later, after the turn of the century, Father Kelly arrived and he is the one most people in Millom remember, said Father Cahalane.

“During his time in 1916 the church members organised a bazaar and raised over £430 – an enormous amount for those days.

“This gave Father Kelly the chance to pay off parish debts.

“Father Kelly, who died in 1935, was followed by Father Heywood, and then Father Fallona from Whitehaven, who died suddenly shortly after he took up his appointment.

“Father McKenna was his successor in 1958 and he was joined a year or two ago by Father Cahalane as his assistant priest.

“The present church is about 75 years old, founded in 1888.

“Millom Catholic School has been flourishing for a long time too, both for primary and secondary schoolchildren until the comprehensive school in Millom opened seven years ago and took over the older pupils.

“Millom, too, has its own Knights of St Columba Organisation, as strong and popular as in many larger towns.

“The present parish, which includes about 11,000 parishioners, stretches to Ravenglass and the Duddon Bridge on one side and Haverigg and outlying families on the other.”

A major part of the centenary celebrations in 1967 depended on the church organ being put back together after restoration from the “thousands of parts” which had been spread around the church.

The opportunity was also taken to have the broken church bell repaired after it had been stored in the school house for many years.

Among guests invited to the centenary celebrations was Roman Catholic Bishop of Lancaster, the Right Reverend Brian Foley.