Our Lady of the Angels and St Peter in Chains Church or Our Lady and St Peter's Chains Church is a
Roman CatholicParish church in
Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. It was built in 1857 and designed by
Charles Hansom. It is situated on
Hartshill Road close to the junction with Shelton Old Road, south of
Queensway, in the centre of the city. It was founded as a church with an adjoining priory of
Dominican nuns and is a Grade II listed building.[1][3]
History
Foundation
In 1838, a
Roman Catholicmission from
Longton was started in Stoke. In 1841, a chapel, named St Peter's Chains, was built on Back Glebe Street. In 1850, the chapel received its own priest. In early 1851, a group of Dominicans nuns moved into Longton. In 1854, with their lease in Longton ending, they moved to the site of the present church.[3]
Construction
In 1856, building work began on the church and the adjoining convent for the Dominican nuns. To pay for the construction, the old chapel was sold. In 1857, the new church was opened and named Our Lady of the Angels and St Peter in Chains. The convent started a girls' school at the same site. From 1864 to 1865 the adjoining building was expanded to house a boarding school and St Margaret's Home for Incurables. In 1866, the convent was designated a priory.[3]
Rev Dr James Northcote was parish priest at the church from 1857 to 1860 and then from 1881 to his death in 1907. In 1865, he also donated a series of Stations of the Cross from Belgium to the church. In 1905, an organ was installed. This was to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Northcote's priesthood.[3]