Parishioners fighting to save the Lancashire church of St Joseph’s, Brindle, are trying to get the backing of would-be prime minister Andy Burnham, who is standing in the Ashton-in-Makerfield by-election, 20 miles away.

Parishioners fighting to save the Lancashire church of St Joseph’s, Brindle, are trying to get the backing of would-be prime minister Andy Burnham, who is standing in the Ashton-in-Makerfield by-election, 20 miles away. They have reason to believe that Burnham will take an interest in St Joseph’s, given its links with the Jesuit martyr St Edmund Arrowsmith (1585-1628), who was born near Ashton. Burnham has lived in the area for 25 years and his three children attended St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School in the town. The Reform candidate, Robert Kenyon, also went to the school.

St Edmund ministered to Catholics in Brindle and the church has items believed to have belonged to him, including a portable altar, pewter chalices and a tattered vestment. St Joseph’s opened in 1786, making it one of the oldest post-Reformation Catholic parish churches in England. It is owned by Ampleforth Abbey, which tried, unsuccessfully, to hand over the parish to the Archdiocese of Liverpool. Archbishop of Liverpool John Sherrington merged St Joseph’s with a neighbouring parish on 2 March. The church has been locked up ever since while Ampleforth tries to determine what to do with the building.

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