Forest of Rossendale, 199 



more central position, and began the building of the present church 

 at Constablee, Rawtenstall, in the beginning of 1844, but he did 

 not stay to see the completion of his undertaking, and left Oct. 20th 

 of the same year, when the walls of the building were finished up 

 to the window heads. A young and zealous priest, the Rev. Thos. 

 Rimmer, was sent to finish the building, which he succeeded in 

 doing towards the end of 1845. On the 24th September, 1845, 

 the new church was opened by the Vicar Apostolic of the 

 Lancashire district. Pontifical Mass was sung by the Right Rev. 

 Dr. Sharpies, Assistant Vicar, the sermon being preached by Dr. 

 Roskell, who afterwards became Bishop of Nottingham. The cost 

 of its erection was ;^i,5oo. The church was dedicated to St. 

 James-the-Less, and in its quaint early English form became one 

 of the recognised features of rapidly-growing Rawtenstall. Mr. 

 Rimmer did not live long to minister in the church he finished, but 

 having caught fever at the bedside of one of his flock at Haslingden, 

 he died of the contagion on the 8th January, 1848, and was buried 

 inside the sanctuary of the church, a memorial brass being erected 

 to his memory over the vestry door. 



The Rev. James F. Anderton, who succeeded in January, was 

 replaced in October of the same year by the Rev. Thomas 

 Unsworth, who was the Incumbent until October, 1851. He was 

 followed by the Rev. Henry Swale (now at Broughton, near 

 Skipton), who only stayed three years. In October, 1854, a young 

 priest, who had been curate in St. Wilfred's, Manchester, the Rev. 

 Joseph Scott, took charge of the scattered mission, then including 

 Bacup, Stacksteads, Haslingden, and Ramsbottom. During his 

 twenty-one years' incumbency, he enclosed the graveyard by a 

 stone wall, built a school, and the present rectory. Owing to 

 failing health he retired from active work in October, 1875. He 

 was succeeded by the Rev. Denis Byrne, who had served previously 

 for many years in St. Patrick's, Bolton, and after a stay of about 

 three years retired from the mission and shortly after died at Genoa 

 in Italy. The Rev. Michael McCormick succeeded, but retired in 

 March, i88i, after a stay of a little over two years. 



