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, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Boznia and Herzegovina, 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. The website host allows the Website Author to see a list of countries in which the website has been viewed as shown in the sample screenshot below.