Previous Priests

Below is a history of our former Priests who served in the Parish of Northallerton.

• 1491 - 1495

  Saint John Fisher - Bishop and Martyr

• 1863 - 1889

  Northallerton was served from Aiskew / Bedale

• 1863 - 1866

  Fr Lawrence McGonnell

• 1867 (March to September)

  Fr Patrick George Kennedy (Fled because of debts!)

• 1867 - 1868

  Fr Edward O'Leary (an invalid)

• 1868 - 1869

  Vacancy, possibly filled by Fr Luke Burke from Brough Hall

• 1869 - 1875

  Fr Lawrence McGonnell

• 1875 - 1876

  Vacancy from July 1875 to Jan/Feb 1876

• 1876 - 1880

  Fr Lawrence Schoch (a German exile)

• 1880 - 1881

  Fr Joseph Xavier Molloy (originally ordained for the West Indies though eventually a Canon of Middlesbrough)

• 1881 - 1886

  Fr James Griffin (a Priest on loan from Meath who eventually stayed)

• 1886 - 1887

  Fr Richard O'Halloran (a Priest on loan from Ireland)

• 1889 - 1904

  Fr James Butler (Butler lived at Aiskew from 1889 - 91, then moved to Northallerton from 1891 - 1895. His personal journal records his intense dislike of the place! He finally moved back to Aiskew from 1895 to 1904! He was Parish Priest of both Aiskew and Northallerton throughout the period)

• 1904 - 1933

  Fr Louis Tils

• 1933 - 1938

  Fr Patrick McAniff - the church of the Sacred Heart was built & opened in this period

• 1938 - 1978

  Fr Francis Connolly

• 1978 - 1984

  Fr Dermot Nunan

• 1984 - 2001

  Fr Joseph Brennan
  Assistants:
  1996 - 98: Fr Michael Sellars
  1998 - 2000: Fr James Campbell

• 2001 - 2007

  Fr Norman Jacobson

• 20th Aug 2007 - 4th Oct 2017

  Fr James Blenkinsopp
  Deacons: Rev. Paul Hagg and Rev. John Steel

• Oct 2017 - Present

  Fr Michael Keogh
  Deacons: Rev. Paul Hagg