St Mary's vicars - 1900 to the present day
Pulpit swaps by vicars, and an era of "dying in harness" without pension provision makes way for St Mary's adapting to life and mission post-war: pantomimes and youth clubs, and still plenty of repairs to make St Mary's fit to serve Barnard Castle in the C21st...
C20th and C21st Century
1898-1906 – John Trevenen Penrose. Penrose was born 1853 in County Cork and educated at Trinity College Cambridge, with distinction in rowing and running. He was previously curate at Wakefield, Coleshill (Warks.) and Macclesfield. John and his wife Annie tragically lost both of their children: Mary, aged 14, whilst in Barnard Castle, and their son Edward (1st Battalion Irish Fusiliers) at Ypres in 1915. Penrose left St Mary’s to be Vicar of Petworth (1906-19). On a visit to County Antrim in 1926 Penrose was playing golf near the sea when three girls got into difficulties in the water. He rushed in to save them but died in the attempt, aged 72.
1906-13 – Leonard Beauclerk Ashby. Born in Ascot in 1875. Firstly curate at West Hartlepool and Holy Trinity Darlington, after eight years at St Mary’s, Ashby arranged with Revd. HWH Bircham of Southsea, Portsmouth to ‘swap’ parishes. He later held posts in Hitchin, Dickleburgh (Norf.) and Farnham. In retirement and after an operation which removed his vocal cords, he wrote religious columns and addresses for newspapers and pamphlets and the book, ‘Christ and the Plain Man’. He died in 1954
1914-35 – Henry William Haves Bircham. Bircham was firstly curate in 1883 in Leeds in Hunslet, then Gildersome and Morley, during which time he undertook a degree at Durham. After a post at Bridgewater, he exchanged his parish at Southsea with Revd. Ashby. He was actively engaged in the town’s Urban Council, Board of Guardians and the Teesdale District Education Committee. Rev Bircham was already 58 when he arrived in Barnard Castle with his wife Sarah and despite suffering ill-health for some years, he died ‘in harness’ in 1935, aged 79. It was noted after his death that he was never made a canon of Durham Cathedral – private journal entries by Bishop Hensley Henson suggest Bircham became a divisive figure and that his final years of extreme illness made his position difficult. A stone bench was placed in the town cemetery in memoriam.
1935-53 – Bertie Selwyn Smith. Born 1881 in Staffordshire, Selwyn Smith studied at Trinity College Cambridge, and was afterwards curate firstly near Woolwich, followed by a parish in Belgravia, and then the Anglican church in Stockholm. After serving at St Saviour’s Liverpool and subsequently at Crosby for 18 years, Selwyn Smith concluded his ministry with 18 years at St Mary’s, retiring to a rural parish in Wiltshire aged 72. He died aged 79 in 1960. A satirical portrait of him as “the loathed Vicar” during his tenure in Crosby was anonymously written by his own curate Revd Joseph McCulloch in the 1932 novel “Charming Manners”, and as a result McCulloch was summarily despatched from his curacy by Smith.
1953-59 – Alan Brunskill Webster KCVO. Born 1918 near Shrewsbury, the son of a vicar, Webster was educated at Queen’s College Oxford, and trained at Cambridge. After serving in Attercliffe and Arbourthorne (Sheffield), he became chaplain and vice-principal of Westcott Theological College in Cambridge before his arrival at St Mary’s. During his tenure the Parish Hall was built for church and community use, pantomimes were performed and dances enjoyed by ‘the Guild’ in their new clubroom. Revd. Webster also undertook the rescue of the pipe organ from dry rot, removed the 1919 wrought-iron chancel screen and created St Margaret’s Chapel in the former organ chamber. After leaving Barnard Castle he headed a theological training college in Lincoln before serving as Dean of Norwich Cathedral, and then Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral until 1987, presiding at the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Princess of Wales. He died in 2007
1959-71 – John Burnell Browne MC – Born in Hereford in 1915, the son of a vicar, Browne was educated at Queen’s Cambridge, after which he reluctantly joined up in 1939, serving with The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment. Sent to the Mediterranean, Browne was a platoon commander on Malta for three years and was later awarded the Military Cross for leading his platoon to recapture a ridge on Greek island of Leros after the German invasion. When Leros was captured in late 1943, Browne was wounded and taken prisoner but made a dramatic escape by boat to Turkey. Post-war, Browne trained for ministry in Cambridge, before ordination at Ripon and a curacy at Leeds Parish Church. Whilst vicar at St Mary’s, Browne was active across the town in education and charitable community groups; he also oversaw the development of the church carpark and the removal of the intricate reredos panel behind the altar (installed in 1883) to Christ Church, Shieldfield (Newcastle). After his time at St Mary’s, Browne moved with his family to St Cuthbert’s Billingham. He retired in 1980 and died in Hebden Bridge in 2002.
1972-76 – Peter Raphael Cornwell – Born 1934, the son of an archdeacon, Revd. Cornwell trained at Worcester College and Cuddesdon Theological College in Oxford, prior to a curacy in Hull. He returned to Cuddesdon as chaplain and then as vice-principal under Robert Runcie before a post at New Silksworth near Sunderland. After his time in Barnard Castle Cornwell returned to Oxford with his family where he became vicar of the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, at which he had worshipped as a student. In 1985 he resigned his post and was received into the Roman Catholic church, later becoming became chaplain of Prior Park College. In retirement, Revd. Cornwell was Assistant Priest at St John’s, Bath. Peter died in March 2021.
1976-79 – Peter Lund – Educated at Oriel College, Oxford and trained in the RAF before theological training in Lincoln. Ordained in 1960, Revd. Lund’s first training post as an ‘assistant curate’ was here at St Mary’s when Revd. John Browne was vicar. In 1963 Lund became the priest at Cockfield near Bishop Auckland and then at Newton Aycliffe before returning to the area with churches at Stanwix, Forcett and Melsonby. He was initially Vicar at Holy Trinity Startforth (1973) (just across the County Bridge) and then returned to St Mary’s as vicar. After St Mary’s, Revd. Lund was vicar at St Peter’s Sark in the Channel Islands until 1984; Peter died in Sark in 1989.
1979-81 – John P Sturges – After training curacies in Beamish and Devon, Revd. Sturges became vicar of St. Jude’s, South Shields in 1958, moving in 1968 to be Rector of Rowlands Gill and Whinlaton for a further 10 years. Sturges arrived at St Mary’s in June 1979 but after sudden illness overtook him in February 1981, he died in office in August 1981. His ordaining bishop Lord Ramsey travelled to John’s bedside in his final hours to say prayers and thank him personally for his help and faithful service.
1982-2000 – Peter W Lind-Jackson – Revd. Peter Lind-Jackson was born in Ross-on-Wye and after time in accountancy, the army and in insurance, he completed a theology degree at Leeds University and theological training. He returned to Hereford for ordination and as curate to St Martin’s parish of 25,000, which included members of the SAS. After 11 years in Burghill (Herefordshire) and also as chaplain of a local psychiatric hospital, Revd. Lind-Jackson moved to Barney where he was vicar for 18 years until retirement in 2000, overseeing the complete re-roofing of the church, restorative work in the north transept and the introduction of an aumbry. In 1983 St Mary’s Whorlton (4 miles distant) joined with St Mary’s Barnard Castle to form a united parish. Living close to Barnard Castle in retirement, Revd. Lind-Jackson assisted local parishes “across the river” from the town for a number of years.
2000 – Alec James Harding – Born in Hereford in 1961, Revd. Canon Harding studied music at St Andrew’s and theology at the All Souls College of Applied Theology (London) before theological training at Cranmer Hall, Durham. After a curacy at Thirsk (N. Yorks), he was team vicar at St Francis of Assisi, Hereford. He has served as vicar of St Mary’s and Area Dean of Barnard Castle since 2000, and as non-residentiary Canon of Durham Cathedral (from 2011). During his incumbency St Mary’s has been re-ordered for worship and to give a welcoming space for the congregation, visitors and pilgrims, and for community use. As an active parish, working with children, community engagement with ‘healing’ and especially with music, St Mary’s door is always open to the town in which Bernard Baliol first conceived his parish church.
