About the Church of the Immaculate Conception

The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Scarthingwell, is the older of the two churches in the parish. The church was donated by Mr Constable Maxwell in 1854, whose family originated in Peebleshire, Scotland, but had moved to Scarthingwell in 1850. The church was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady by Cardinal Manning and was the first in England to bear that title. The bell was blessed By Bishop Briggs of Barnsley in 1857 and Saint John Henry Newman is known to have preached at Scarthingwell.