York Oratory

 

Despite being known now as York Oratory, the church is actually St Wilfrid's and all the way back in the 1500s was a choice placement for Saint Mary's Abbey in York. Unfortunately, the original version of the church fell into ruin after 1585 as the parish was unable to support itself and ended up having to merge with Saint Michael le Belfry. The church was then demolished.

A couple of hundred years later in 1742 Saint Wilfrid's was revived when Thomas Daniel set up a Catholic Mission in Little Blake Street. It was founded by Edward Dicconson who was the Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District of England and became the new hub of Catholic worship in York. This chapel continued service until 1802 when another one was built opposite, obviously there was a lot of anti-Catholic feeling still back then, so the church was designed with a non-conformist look in mind and it held 700 people. 

The Catholic parish grew and grew and soon 700 seats were not enough so plans were made to build a larger and more authentic Catholic church on the same site as the chapel. Construction was complete in 1864 and happened alongside the widening of Little Blake Street which meant several houses had to be demolished, including the original chapel opposite, and the church ended up being an attractive stop on the new route. The new church then became the Pro-Cathedral Church of the Beverley Diocese until 1879 when it was split inline with the River Ouse. They even found part of the original church's porch under the floor of the assembly rooms when they renovated in the 19th century! The bells in the tower are from all over the shop, the oldest of the 10 dating back to 1938 and the youngest being added in 2019.

Despite the current church also being known as The Church of St Wilfrid, and its nickname the Mother Church of the City of York, the church was entrusted to the Fathers of the Oxford Oratory in 2013 and thus became York Oratory as of then.

This one is quite a striking looking church and we would have loved to have seen the inside but we were a bit strapped for time. We didn't get any particular vibe from the exterior other than 'wow look at that', so it has a low haunted rating, but if we ever get back to York then we'll be having a closer look!

Haunted: 3/10

Worth the visit: 7/10

Giftshop: n/a

Ghost count: 0

Dog friendly: Yes

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