career, for in 1768, during a great election riot, it was pulled down by an infuriated mob, all the Catholic registers in it were burned, and the priest—­the Rev. Patrick Barnewell—­only saved his life by beating a rapid retreat at the rear, and crossing the Ribble at an old ford below Frenchwood.  Another chapel was subsequently raised, upon the present site of St. Mary’s, on the west side of Friargate, but when St. Wilfrid’s was opened, in 1793, it was closed for religious purposes and transmuted into a cotton warehouse.  The following priests were at St. Mary’s from its opening in 1761 until its close in 1793:- Revs.  Patrick Barnewell, Joseph Smith, John Jenison, Nicholas Sewall, Joseph Dunn, and Richard Morgan.  The two last named gentleman lived together in a cottage, on the left side of the entrance to the chapel, behind which they had a fine room commanding a beautiful view of the Ribble, Penwortham, &c., for at that time all was open, on the western side of Friargate, down to the river.  Whittle, speaking of Father Dunn, says he was “the father of the Catholic school, the House of Recovery, and the Gasworks,” and adds, with a plaintive bathos, that “on the very day he left this sublunary world he rose, as was his custom, very early, and in the course of his rambles exchanged a sovereign for sixpences, for distribution amongst the indigent.”

In 1815 the chapel was restored; but not long afterwards its roof fell in.  Nobody however was hurt, just because nobody was in the building at the time.  The work of reparation followed, and the chapel was deemed sufficient till 1856, when it was entirely rebuilt and enlarged.  As it was then fashioned so it remains.  It is a chapel of ease for St. Wilfrid’s, and is attended to a very large extent by Irish people.  The situation of it is lofty; it stands upon higher ground than any other place of worship in the town; but it is so hemmed in with houses, &c., that you can scarcely see it, and if you could get a full view of it nothing very beautiful would be observed about the exterior.  The locality in which this chapel is placed is crowded, dark-looking, and pretty ungodly.  All kinds of sinister-looking alleys, narrow yards, dirty courts, and smoky back streets surround it; much drinking is done in each; and a chorus of noise from lounging men in their shirt sleeves, draggle-tailed women without bonnets, and weird little youngsters, given up entirely to dirt, treacle, and rags, is constantly kept up in them.  The chapel has a quaint, narrow, awkward entrance.  You pass a gateway, then mount a step, then go on a yard or two and encounter four steps, then breathe a little, then get into a somewhat sombre lobby two and a half yards wide, and inconveniently steep, next cross a little stone gutter, and finally reach a cimmerian square, surrounded by high walls, cracked house ends, and other objects similarly interesting.  The front of the chapel is cold-looking and devoid of ornament.  Upon the roof there is a square