Clergy
From 1884 to 2019, Our Lady & All Saints has been served by 13 Parish Priests, seven Assistant Priests and three Administrators/Priests in charge.
All have been monks of Ampleforth, seven were from Merseyside or Lancashire, three of the others were converts to the faith.
Three died in office and are buried in the cemetery attached to the church.
From 2020, the Trusteeship of the parish was transferred to the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
Since then the the parish has been served by three diocesan priests.
Fr Placid O’Brien was born in Liverpool in 1825. Educated at Ampleforth he was clothed as a Monk there in 1847. Ordained Priest in 1852 he served at Coventry, St Anne’s Liverpool, St Mary’s Liverpool (where he survived Typhus fever although his fellow Curate died) and Clayton Green. He came to Parbold, aged 59 from Clayton Green. Father Placid possessed a fine voice in both speaking and singing. He moved to St Austin’s Grassendale in 1891 where he died in 1898 and is buried.
Father Ildephonsus was born in Wigan in 1836. He too had a varied career, having succeeded Abbot Bury at Hindley and Archbishop Scarisbrick, O.S.B., at Seel Street, Liverpool. Much of the church panelling and statuary was installed during his years, notably the two altars of Our Lady and St. Benedict.Fr. Ildephonsus is still remembered for his kindness and great practical charity and when he kept his golden jubilee of ordination, in 1913, the local vicar, Free Church minister, and village doctor all paid public tribute. He died in 1917 and the four windows in the south aisle Our Lady, St. Joseph, St. Laurence and St. Ildephonsus, were his memorial.
Father Benedict was born in Carlisle in 1866 and was a graduate of London University. He came to Ampleforth College as a lay-master, eventually joining the Community there in 1893 and was ordained in 1900. After ordination he again taught at Ampleforth College before serving the Parishes in St Mary’s Warrington (1907-1909) and Dowlais, South Wales (1909-1912). In 1912 he went to Canada where, along with Fr Wilfrid Darby OSB (Parbold 1915-1928), he was one of the two pioneers in a new foundation in Calgary, Alberta. Unfortunately, due to political problems of a religious nature, the Calgary foundation was abandoned in 1914 and Father Benedict returned to England to Parbold as assistant Priest to Prior Ildephonsus Brown (Parbold 1891-1917). In 1915 he became incumbent at Goosnargh before becoming Parish Priest at St Alban’s Warrington from 1918-1919. In 1919 he became assistant at Brindle and Merthyr Tydfil. From 1922 until 1938 he was assistant at Warwick Bridge until he became a complete invalid. He died in Stillington, York on 28 August 1938 and is buried at Ampleforth.
Fr Wilfrid was born in Liverpool. In 1915, at the age of 60, he relinquished the huge Parish of St Anne, Edge Hill to come to Parbold as Assistant Priest, becoming Parish Priest in 1916. Pressure was put upon him to install a telephone, but he resisted on the grounds that the Parish could ill afford it, so a whist drive was held and the £3 that it raised was sufficient to pay for the telephone and the first quarter’s rental. He installed stained glass windows in memory of the Parishioners who died in the Great War: Cyril Ainscough, Ralph Baxendale and Felix Fishwick. The Church had a narrow escape from fire in 1925, but Father Darby’s erudition in dealing with the insurance resulted in a settlement that paid for the present Christmas Crib. He died at Parbold on 16 December 1928. The windows in the north aisle depicting St John the Baptist and St Wilfrid are his memorial.
Father Aidan was a native of Louth, Lincolnshire and came to Parbold at the age of 67. He had been Procurator of Ampleforth during the building of the new monastery about the turn of the century. He had also been secretary to Bishop Hedley and loved to recall the hours of their happy association. The St. John Rigby window, gift of his co-lateral descendants, was blessed on June 15th, 1930. At about the same time the Lourdes window was donated by the Polding family of Parbold. Originally belonging to Brindle, this old Lancashire Catholic family counted Archbishop Polding, O.S.B., of Sydney, among its members. Around this time, the Lourdes window at the back of Church was donated by the Polding family of Parbold. For some years Fr Aidan’s health was uncertain, and for the last six months of his life he was a confirmed invalid. He died at Stillington Hall York, on 25 August 1941. He is buried at Ampleforth.
Father Sigebert was born in Bath in 1852 and was educated at Ampleforth where he joined the monastic community. Ordained Priest in 1877 he was immediately sent out to the “Missions” or as they are known today, the Parishes. He served in St Alban’s Warrington (1878-79 and 1891-97), before joining his brother, Father Elphege Cody a monk of Downside Abbey, at Fort Augustus Abbey in Scotland (1879-1880). He returned to Parish work at Bedlington (1880-1882), St Anne’s Edge Hill, Liverpool (1882-1890), Hindley (1890 -1891) and St Mary’s Cardiff (1897-1905). In 1905 he returned to Scotland to Blackwood until 1912 when he came to Brownedge, Bamber Bridge (1912-1917). His longest period of Pastoral work was at Warwick Bridge near Carlisle where he lived for sixteen years from 1917 until 1933. Failing strength and growing infirmities saw him leave Warwick Bridge to come to Parbold as assistant to Father Aidan Crow (Parbold 1928-1941 in October 1933. Unfortunately deterioration of his health meant a move, in December 1933, to a Nursing Home, at Whalley Grange, where he died on 1 May 1934.
Fr Ambrose Byrne, although brought up at Rock Ferry, on the Wirral, came to Ampleforth from Glendalough, County Wicklow. He was one of the pioneers at the new Ampleforth Hall at Oxford University. After ordination he became first Prefect at Ampleforth College, in1912, before becoming an Army Chaplain in 1916, during the First World War. After the war came a few years at St Alban’s Warrington before he was placed in charge of St Mary’s Cardiff. As a business manager, he was amazing – like one of his predecessors, Fr Wilfrid Darby. Fr Ambrose too was Inspector of Accounts for the English Benedictine Congregation, from 1934 until 1950. He embellished the Church at Cardiff and enlarged the Priory, yet still managed to save money. Unfortunately, the strains of war-stricken Cardiff affected his health, and his brother, by then the third Abbot of Ampleforth, moved him to Parbold, where he arrived in the summer of 1941. The following year he asked his brother, the Abbot, for a move. He was sent to St Mary’s Brownedge, Bamber Bridge, where his obituary states “he infused new life into every department of its activities”. Fr Ambrose was also an excellent preacher he always had something worth saying and he said it well. He died on 17 February 1950 and is buried at Brownedge.
Fr Gerard Blackmore’s parents came from Bideford in Devon and were related to the author Lorna Doone. Both converts to the Catholic Church, they moved to Ilkley in Yorkshire where Fr Gerard was born in 1882. Educated at Ambleside and Ushaw, he joined the Ampleforth community in 1904, being ordained Priest in 1913. Obedience called him almost immediately to work on the “Mission” where he laboured for the next thirty-six years. Fr Gerard served at Warwick Bridge, Brownedge, St Anne’s Edge Hill Liverpool, St Benedict’s Warrington, St Austin’s Grassendale, St Mary’s Warrington, and Knaresborough before arriving at Parbold in 1942. He was a man of prayer, spending many hours in front of the Tabernacle. It had been part of his apostolate for many years to go to the assistance of old and infirm priests. He appreciated the beauty of the Lake District, as well as Music, Art, Craftsmanship and Literature. After only four years he left Parbold in 1946 for St Joseph’s Brindle, Hoghton, where he died on 3 June 1950 and is buried there.
Fr Herman Alexius Chamberlain was born in Liverpool in 1887 and ordained in 1915. As Parish Priest of St. Mary’s, Warrington, 1929-1942, his numerous utterances and activities earned him the sobriquet “pulpit, platform and press”. Fr Alexius came to Parbold in 1944 as Assistant Priest before becoming Parish Priest in 1946. When he reached his monastic golden jubilee in 1955, he installed the two windows in the Lady Chapel depicting his patrons, St Alexius and St Herman the Lame, a Benedictine monk credited with having composed the Salve Regina. Fr. Alexius was a man of dominant personality and forthright speech. Yet he was always quick to recognise service rendered. He wrote from Parbold “I have been aided both in church and school by a small group of devoted workers”. Three of these were Robert Abram (1888-1965) who in the days before central heating came three times a day to stoke the church fire all through winter. Another was Wilfrid Whittle (1896-1976) gardener, gravedigger, bellringer and collector. Both were baptised in the church and are buried in its cemetery. The third was James Cornwell (1904-1982). Illness compelled Fr. Chamberlain to retire to Brownedge where in recognition of years of faithful service he was given the titular dignity of Abbot of St. Mary’s, York. He died in 1965.
Father Illtyd was one of six brothers who were educated at Ampleforth. Born in Caerleon near Newport in Wales in 1887 he arrived at Ampleforth College in 1896. He joined the monastic community in 1905. In 1908 he was sent to Louvain to study French. Ordained Priest in 1913, Fr Illtyd was appointed Housemaster of the Junior House at Ampleforth in 1926 where one of his last pupils was the future Cardinal Basil Hume OSB. Ill health caused his retirement from Junior House in 1936 and six months later he became assistant Priest at St Anne’s, Edge Hill, Liverpool. Persistent ill health saw him retire to a Nursing Home from 1940 until 1947. In 1947 he was assistant Priest at Knaresborough, before he came to Parbold to act as assistant to Father Alexius Chamberlain (Parbold 1945-1956). After Parbold he was assistant for short periods at Grassendale and Warwick Bridge before becoming Parish Priest at Easingwold in 1948 where he remained until his death. In 1961 Fr Illtyd was appointed Cathedral Prior of Durham. He died in York on 9 April 1964.
Fr Ernest Gregory Swann was born in 1887 at Merton in Surrey. An Anglican, he was educated at Lowestoft College and St Edmund’s Hall, Oxford where he read for a degree in Chemistry. He was received into the Catholic Church in March 1909, entering the Ampleforth Community in 1911. Fr Gregory was ordained Priest in 1919 and held a number of offices in the Community whilst teaching science in the school. He was at various times sub-procurator (1914-1918), Master of Ceremonies (1919-27) and sub-Novice Master (1923-27), as well as being in charge of the local Parish of Helmsley for eight years. From 1927 until 1958, Fr Gregory served on the Ampleforth parishes. Serving at St Mary’s Cardiff and St Anne’s Liverpool, he was also parish priest of Easingwold and Lostock Hall (where he remained for fourteen years) before coming to Parbold in 1956. At Parbold, Fr Gregory made a plan and wrote an account of the Rose Window above the High Altar. After only one year at Parbold, Fr Gregory asked if he could return to the Abbey. Here he lived in retirement until his death, in York, on 31 March 1974. Fr Gregory will be remembered for his assiduous pursuit of the three Ls – Latin, Liturgy and Laughter. Sometimes simultaneously!
Fr Aelred was born in London in 1899 and educated at Stafford Grammar School. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1916. During the last year of the First World War, he served as an Observer in the Royal Flying Corps. He entered the Ampleforth Community in 1919, being ordained Priest in 1927. There then followed a very active life in the Ampleforth Parishes, broken by a period as Chaplain to the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, where he served mostly in North Africa. His pastoral work on the Ampleforth Parishes saw him serve as an assistant Priest in Leyland, Warrington, Cardiff and Liverpool. At the end of the War, he became Parish Priest at Easingwold in 1946, before looking after the Parishes at St Anne’s Edge Hill Liverpool and Maryport. After a brief period assisting at Leyland, he came to Parbold as parish Priest in 1957. When he succeeded Fr Gregory Swann, Parbold was ceasing to be a remote community and its attraction as a place of residence to people whose professions take them to Liverpool, Manchester and beyond started to develop. A new Primary School was built during his tenure.
Leaving Parbold in 1972 Fr Aelred moved to Richmond North Yorkshire, then Warwick Bridge and Goosnargh. In 1984 he retired to the Abbey, aged 85! Fr Aelred died in the St John of God Hospital Scorton on 21 November 1989 and is buried at Ampleforth.
Born in Warrington in 1911, Father Alban was ordained in 1939 and after teaching in the school at Ampleforth until 1952, he served in Cardiff, Warrington and Brownedge and as parish priest at Aberford. During his two years in Parbold, he renovated the presbytery and developed lay involvement in the liturgy. In 1974 he moved to Kirkbymoorside, near Ampleforth, to become Parish Priest, and remained there until 1980. Father Alban died, in retirement, in Ripon on 22 May 1984.
Born in 1925 at Saint Annes on the Fylde coast and educated by the Jesuits in Preston, Father David served in the Royal Navy for four years, 1942-1946. After four years in business he became a monk of Ampleforth and was ordained in 1958. He taught in the school and served in Cardiff and at St. Mary’s, Warrington, before his appointment to Parbold in 1973. In 1977 he was made Dean of the Ormskirk Deanery by Archbishop Worlock. During his tenure, phase 2 of the school was completed and extensive renovations made to the church, cemetery, car park, and grounds. Father David brought the High Altar forward four feet from the Reredos, dropping the level by two steps. He brought the Font from the rear of the Church to the former Pulpit site at the front of the Church, removed the Altar Rails and carpeted the floor of the Sanctuary and Aisles. New lighting and overhead electrical heating were installed. He renovated the Sacristy, installed a kitchenette, rewired the whole Church, replaced the Organ and constructed a Day Chapel at the rear of the church. All this was done in time for the Church’s centenary in May 1984. He left the Parish in February 1990 as a result of ill health, going to Saint Mary’s Brownedge, Bamber Bridge. In 1997 he returned to Ampleforth becoming Priest in Charge of Saint Mary’s Helmsley until July 2000, when he was sent to St. Benedict’s Monastery, Brownedge. Fr David died at Ampleforth on 26 November 2014, in his ninetieth year.
Father Francis was born in London in 1919. Educated at Ampleforth, he entered the monastery there in 1937. Whilst a Monk studying at Oxford University he played for the University XV for two seasons. Returning to the Abbey, he was ordained Priest in 1947. Two years later, he went to the Ampleforth Parish of Workington as assistant Priest to begin fifty years service on the Ampleforth Parishes. From Workington, he went to Saint Benedict’s Warrington, then nine years later to Saint Mary’s Harrington before being moved to Saint Mary’s Bamber Bridge. In 1970 he was appointed Parish Priest of Our Lady and Saint Wilfrid’s Warwick Bridge, Carlisle where he remained for twenty years. In February 1990 he came to Our Lady and All Saints, Parbold, to act as Administrator until December 1990 when he became Supply Priest at Our Lady and Saint Gerard’s Lostock Hall. He retired to Saint Mary’s Bamber Bridge in May 1992, but still continued a very active life in the Priestly ministry – dying suddenly after his Sick Communion round on 18 February 2000.
Fr David Michael Phillips was educated at Ampleforth College. He entered the Monastery at Ampleforth in 1952. After studying for a degree in Maths, Moderations and Physics Finals at Oxford University and becoming a qualified Rugby Union Referee, he returned to the Abbey to be ordained Priest in 1962.
For the next seventeen years, Fr Michael taught Physics at Ampleforth College, becoming Head of Physics and Senior Science Master before being appointed Procurator of the Abbey and College in 1979. After holding this post for twelve years he was appointed twelfth Parish Priest of Our Lady and All Saints Parbold on 1 January 1991. In November 1998 he left Parbold to become Parish Priest of the Ampleforth parish of Our Lady Star of the Sea and Saint Michael’s, Workington.
Father Bernard was born in London in 1910. Educated at Ampleforth College, he entered the Monastery there in 1928, being ordained Priest in 1937. For the next twenty seven years he taught Physics at Ampleforth and was a Housemaster from 1950 until 1964. He then became the first Catholic Chaplain at York University where he remained for six years. In 1970 he went to the Ampleforth parish of Saint Mary’s in Cardiff where he was Parish priest. From 1977 until 1982 he became Vicar for Religious in the Liverpool Archdiocese. From 1982 until 1989, he was an assistant Priest at Liverpool Cathedral before retiring to the Ampleforth Parish of Saint Mary’s Brownedge, before moving to Our Lady and All Saints as Assistant in 1992. Unfortunately, a bad fall and a series of strokes meant that he had to return to the Abbey in 1993, where he died on 17 May 1997.
Father Leonard was born and baptised in Our Lady and All Saints Parish, Parbold. He was Assistant Priest to the Parish at the time of his death on 23 February 1999. Educated at Ampleforth, he joined the monastery there in 1937. During his early monastic career he had to serve in the RAMC as part of the pre War call-up before being released. He was ordained Priest in 1945 and spent the next fifteen years teaching Geography at Ampleforth College, being Chaplain to the Domestic Staff and running the College Kinema. In 1960 he was sent to the Ampleforth foundation at St Louis Missouri USA where he became Deputy Headmaster. He returned to England in 1971 to become Assistant Priest at Our Lady and Saint Gerard’s Lostock Hall. In 1976 he was appointed Parish Priest of Saint Mary’s Bamber Bridge. In 1986 he retired to become Assistant Priest at Saint Austin’s Grassendale Liverpool. In 1993 he came to Our Lady and All Saints Parbold as Assistant. Father Leonard took ill in Parbold Village on the morning of 23 February 1999 and died in Hospital at Southport that evening.
David Gerald Hughes was born in 1929 and was educated at Ampleforth College. In 1947 he went to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst before being commissioned in the Royal Artillery. He served with the British Army on the Rhine from late 1948 until November 1952. In 1953 he entered the monastic Community at Ampleforth and was ordained Priest in July 1960. He spent the next twenty-six years teaching at Ampleforth’s Preparatory School, Gilling Castle, including a brief period as Acting Headmaster. For twenty years he worked on some of Ampleforth’s Parishes, including St Mary’s Cardiff, St Benedict’s Ampleforth Village and St Austin’s Grassendale, Liverpool. From November 1998 until June 1999 Father Gerald acted as Priest in Charge at Our Lady and All Saints, Parbold. He died on 31 August 2009 and is buried at Ampleforth.
Father Martin was born in 1922. Having been educated at Ampleforth, he joined the monastic Community there in 1940. Having studied at St Benet’s Hall Oxford, he returned to Ampleforth where he was ordained in 1949. At Ampleforth Father Martin taught Art and French as well as being Games Master and an Office in the Combined Cadet Force. In 1963 he became Housemaster of Saint Bede’s House, in succession to Cardinal Hume. Father Martin was an expert Artist and is renowned for his talks on the Shroud of Turin. For thirty-two years he organised the Ampleforth Pilgrimages to Lourdes. Father Martin supplied at Our Lady and All Saints from June 1999 until the arrival of Father Gordon on 1 September 1999. In 1977 Father Martin returned to the Monastery to become Junior Master and Guestmaster before moving to Saint Austin’s Parish, Grassendale, Liverpool, in 1981. In 1997 he again returned to the Abbey – this time to become assistant Priest in Ampleforth Village. Fr Martin died at Ampleforth on 31 January 2015 aged 93.
Born in Lanark, Scotland, Father Gordon’s secondary education was at Ampleforth, where he entered the Monastery in 1959. From 1963 – 1967 he taught at Ampleforth, where he was ordained Priest on 16 July 1967. In September 1967 he went to St Alban’s Warrington. He taught in the Boteler Grammar School Warrington (where he was also Chaplain), was Chaplain to English Martyrs RC High School and St Alban’s Youth Club, and assistant Chaplain to HM Remand Centre Risley. In 1977 he moved to St Mary’s Leyland, although in 1978 he spent six months in the Benedictine Monastery in Nigeria. At Leyland, Fr Gordon was Chaplain to HM Prison Wymott. In 1980, he left Leyland to enter the Royal Air Force as a commissioned Chaplain. During his twelve years with the RAF, Fr Gordon served during the First Gulf War, in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrein and Kuwait. His 12 years with the RAF were spent at RAF Locking (+ RAF St Athan): RAF Bruggen: RAF Cranwell (+ RAF Swinderby and RAF Coningsby) and two tours at RAF Kinloss (+ RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Saxa Vord). He was the first Chaplain to fly in a Tornado F3. Fr Gordon is a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists and a member of the National Union of Journalists. From 1967 until 2002, he was the Editor of the Benedictine Yearbook. On leaving the Royal Air Force, he made a 50,000-mile world tour of the overseas Houses in the Benedictine Yearbook to publish a historical geographical and photographic record of them in his book “Gregory’s Angels”. In 1992, Fr Gordon returned to Parish life at Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Gerard Majella Lostock Hall. He remains in contact with the RAF, as Chaplain to 2376 Squadron ATC – Bamber Bridge. In 2003, he reorganised the Sanctuary and Church of Our Lady and All Saints Parbold. From February 2016 until November 2018, Fr Gordon ran the Parish from Ampleforth with monthly admin visits. On Easter Sunday 2019, due to having reached the canonical age for retirement, Fr Gordon was obliged to retire as Parish Priest.
Father Cassian was educated in Aberdeen and at Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities. He became assistant Head at St David’s High School, Dalkieth. A convert to the Catholic Faith, he entered the Benedictine community at Farnborough Abbey in Hampshire before entering the Ampleforth community in 1990. A Housemaster in Ampleforth College as well as Junior Master and Master of Studies in the Abbey Father Cassian looked after the local Parish of Kirkbymoorside, before becoming Parish Priest of Warwick Bridge (Cumbria), followed by Knaresborough, and Priest in charge at St Austin’s Grassendale, Liverpool. Whilst a member of the community at St Benedict’s Monastery, Brownedge Fr Cassian came to Parbold to supply during Father Gordon’s absence, at Ampleforth, from 2016 until the handover of the Parish to the Archdiocese in May 2019.
Father Michael became priest in charge of Our Lady & All Saints (in addition to his parish of St Richard’s Skelmersdale) during the first part of the transition of trusteeship from Ampleforth Abbey to the Archdiocese of Liverpool. During this time, he oversaw the pastoral care of the parish until the arrival of Father LJR Daley in July 2020.
It was another 12 months until the transfer of the trusteeship was completed. Until then Father LJR Daley who was already the parish priest of St John the Evangelist, Burscough, was appointed as priest in charge, in July 2020 and became parish priest on 1st October 2021.A former Benedictine monk of Buckfast Abbey in Devon, seemed fitting for the parish’s first parish priest from the diocese. Father Daley holds a License from the Pontifical Atheneum of Sant’Anselmo, Rome, graduating from the Accademia delle Belle Arti. During his time at Our Lady & All Saints, parishioners enjoyed a number of evenings presentations on religious art. In 2025, Father Daley returned to his Benedictine vocation and moved to Chilworth Abbey in Surrey.
In April 2025, after a short sabbatical, Father Ian O’Shea moved from his parish of St William’s in Wigan, to become parish priest of Our Lady & All Saints, as well as St John the Evangelist, Burscough.