A brief history
Sacred Heart Church was completed in 1934 and originally dedicated to The Sacred Heart of Jesus and St Philomena but in the 1960s became simply Sacred Heart Church. Until 2000 the Sacred Heart parish consisted of the Southern central area of the town but in that year the three town centre parishes of St Mary, Sussex Street (Middlesbrough’s original Cathedral parish) St Patrick, Cannon Street and Sacred Heart were joined together to form one new parish. The formation of the new parish was a necessary response to the falling population of central Middlesbrough which had been taking place over the last fifty years. The former Cathedral of St Mary was destroyed in by fire in 2000 and St Patrick’s Church was closed and demolished in 2002. To help reflect the traditions of the three parishes coming together as one the new parish was named St Patrick but dedication of the Church remains that of the Sacred Heart.
Sacred Heart Church is modelled on the Abbey Church of the Benedictine Monastery of St Andre at Kopen near Bruges in Belgium and is built of yellow Belgian brick in a Romanesque style. The building features a considerable amount of attractive mosaic work, an altar in Carrara marble and some very interesting coloured glass windows by the Harry Clark Studio in Dublin.
Sacred Heart Church is well worth a visit.