DATA AND STATISTICS
The land on which the Church of Saint Peter in Chains is built was bought
on 30 January 1924 from the Earl of Eglinton and Winton for £4500.
Golden
Jubilee Book
The Church is built on three feet of Irish soil.
Built
On Irish Soil
The Church was opened on 2 October 1938 by the Archbishop of Glasgow, Donald Mackintosh.
Opening
Ceremony
The Church was part of the Archdiocese of Glasgow until it was transferred to
the Diocese of Galloway in 1948.
The first Mass involved three priests
all born in Ardrossan - Father Archibald
McSparran, Father James McCarroll
and Father Robert McCliment.
Opening
Ceremony
There have been seven Parish Priests - Monsignor
Archibald McSparran, Father Peter
Fitzpatrick, Father William McBurnie,
Canon Lawrence Fischer, Father
Michael Lynch, Canon Matt McManus
and Duncan McVicar.
Priests
There have
been ten Curates - Canon Matthew Littleton,
Father James O'Sullivan, Canon
Charles Matthews, Father John Murphy,
Canon John Walls, Father
Alastair Tosh, Father Declan Kelly,
Father Joseph Glendinning, Father
John McCaig and Father Paul O'Brien.
Priests
It is very
rare for a native of a town to become its Parish Priest. Archibald
McSparran was born at Harbour Lane, Ardrossan in 1882. He became Parish Priest
in 1946. He died in the Presbytery at 9 South Crescent in 1950. His place of birth,
his Church and place of death spanned no more than half a mile.
McSparran
Road in Croy, Lanarkshire is named after the first Parish Priest of the Church
of Saint Peter in Chains. Father Archibald
McSparran served at Holy Cross Church, Croy from 1930 to 1933.
In
the late 1950s and 1960s, Father Lawrence
Fischer drove a black Morris Oxford MO car with registration mark DAG 55.
He later bought a beige Morris 1100.
The Michael Lynch Centre in Princes
Street, Ardrossan is named after Father Michael
Lynch.
There have been six ordinations
to the priesthood in the Church of Saint Peter in Chains. Five other men born
in Ardrossan have been ordained elswhere. Three other parishioners have also been
ordained elsewhere.
Ordinations
Maurice Taylor's first
ordination as Bishop of Galloway was in the Church of Saint Peter in Chains
when he ordained Peter Magee on 2 July
1981. Twenty-two years later, he performed his last ordination as Bishop in
the same Church when he ordained Stephen
McGrattan on 6 July 2003.
Ordinations
The oldest person for whom a Requiem Mass was said in Saint Peter's was Margaret
Edmond previously Townsley neé Brown. Margaret was 103 years and 66 days
old when she died on 16 February 1996. Her funeral was held on 22 February 1996.
Margaret is buried in Ardrossan Cemetery.
The centre aisle is 20.63 metres long and 1.34 metres wide.
The internal height from floor to ceiling is 8.67 metres.
On the outside wall, there are 1074 panes of glass in the windows.
The 1960 Sale of Work was opened by an entertainer who sang at The White House
three times for Presidents John F Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson and Richard Nixon.
His name was Patrick O'Hagan. His
son, Johnny Logan, won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in 1980 and 1987
and composed the winning entry for Ireland in 1992.
Sales
Of Work
The Church of Saint Peter in Chains in Ardrossan is not the only one with that
name. The only other one in Scotland is the Church
of Saint Peter in Chains in Inverkeithing, Fife. There are two in England
- one in Doncaster
and one in London.
The United States of America has three - in Cincinnati and Hamilton, both Ohio
and Ruby,
Alaska. There is a Cathedral
Church of Saint Peter in Chains in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. The most
famous Church with the same name is the Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains in
Rome, Italy.
The 300000th visit to Saint Peter's website was made on 22 October 2021 at 6.41pm,
the 275000th visit on 21 February 2021 at 10.30am, the 250000th on 5 July 2020
at 3.33pm, the 200000th on 6 July 2018 at 4.14pm, the 190000th on 5 February
2018 at 7.41am, the 180000th on 13 September 2017 at 16.57am, the 175000th on
19 June 2017 at 10.23am, the 170000th on 29 March 2017 at 11.02pm, the 160000th
on 2 November 2016 at 11.09 pm, the 150000th visit was made on 7 May 2016 at
4.38pm, the 140000th on 14 November 2015 at 3.57pm and the 130000th on 14 June
2015 at 8.54pm. The 120000th visit was made on 6 January 2015 at 3.44pm by our
parishioner, Michael McCulloch. The 110000th visit was made on 14 June 2014
at 8.10pm. The 100000th visit was made on 25 November 2013 at 5.06pm by our
parishioner, Bill Andrew. The 90000th visit to Saint Peter's website was made
on 3 May 2013 at 6.59pm, also by Bill Andrew. The 80000th visit was made on
23 September 2012 at 6.15am. The 75000th visit was made on 5 May 2012 at 7.48pm.
The 70000th visit was made on 24 December 2011 at 7.24pm. The 60000th visit
to was made on 23 March 2011 at 5.36pm by Marie Egginton neé Conway.
Marie is a former parishioner who lives in England. Her parents were Hugh Conway
and his wife Kathleen Carry. The 50000th visit was made on 27 May 2010 at 7.02pm.
The 40000th visit was on 22 June 2009. The 30000th visit was on 26 June 2008
at 11.39pm. The
20000th visit was on 18 May 2007. The 10000th visit was on 11 July 2006
at 12.58pm by Peter John Walsh.
The website author does not have access to any information
on who visits the site. Michael, Bill, Marie and Peter John identified themselves
as the 120000th, 100000th and 90000th, 60000th and 10000th visitors.
The highest number of visits to Saint Peter's website in a single day was 781
on 7 January 2021. This was the day on which Davie McIlroy's Requiem Mass was
live-streamed. There were 351 visits on 11 August 2015, 312 visits on 10 August
2015 and 210 visits on 9 August 2015. These visits followed the announcement
of the death of Patricia Barry on 7 August 2015. The highest number of visits
in a month was 4605 in July 2020 during the Covid-19 panademic. The previous
highests were 4408 in January 2021 and 4166 in June 2020.
The one hundred and two countries in which Saint Peter's website is known
to have been viewed are Algeria, American Samoa, Angola, Argentina, Australia,
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Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, England, Finland, France,
Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Guatemala, Guernsey,
Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Isle of Man, Israel,
Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jamaica, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Macao, Macedonia,
Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands,
New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Norway, Panama, Paraguay,
Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of Ireland,
Romania, Russia, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia,
Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland,
Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United
Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela and Wales. If you
have viewed it in another country, please contact WebsiteAuthor@SaintPeterInChains.net.
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