thumb|right|200px|Shrewsbury Cathedral</a> was opened in 1856 The first bishop of the diocese was
James Brown, president of Sedgeley Park School, who was consecrated 27 July 1851. Out of a total population of 1,082,617, Catholics numbered about 20,000. There were thirty churches and chapels attended by resident priests, and six stations; one convent, that of the
Faithful Companions of Jesus, in
Birkenhead, to which was attached a
boarding school for young women, and also a small day-school for poor children. There were
Jesuits at
Holywell, who also had a college at St. Bruno's,
Flintshire, and a
Benedictine at
Acton Burnell. When Brown celebrated the jubilee of his consecration, the secular priests had increased to sixty-six and the regulars to thirty-two. Instead of one religious house of men and one of women, there were now four of men and nine of women; and many elementary schools had been provided for the needs of Catholic children. In 1852 the bitter feeling caused by the re-establishment of the hierarchy found vent in serious riots at
Stockport. On 29 June a large mob attacked the Church of St Philip and St James; they broke the windows and attempted to force in the doors, but before they could effect an entrance, Randolph Frith, the
rector, succeeded in removing the
Blessed Sacrament, and secreting it with the
chalices, etc., in a small cupboard in the side chapel. He was compelled to flee immediately to the belltower, and, whilst the rabble were destroying whatever they could lay their hands upon, he made his escape along the roof, and descended by the spouting at the back of the
presbytery. Much of the church furniture, with
vestments, etc., was piled up in the street and burned. At St Michael's, the
Host was desecrated, and the
pyx and
ciborium carried away. Although the Catholic population of the diocese was 58,013 (as of the early 20th century), Shropshire contributed under 3,000, partly on account of agricultural depression and the consequent flocking to industrial centres. There were ninety clergy, sixteen convents, representatives of four orders of men, eight secondary schools for girls, an
orphanage and industrial school for boys, a home for aged poor, a home for penitents, and an orphanage erected in memory of Bishop Knight. At Oakwood Hall,
Romiley, a house of retreats for working-men opened and had done important work; and at
New Brighton, the nuns of
Our Lady of the Cenacle opened a house of retreats for working-women and ladies. Shropshire is singularly rich in archaeological interest, its pre-Reformation parish churches, the noble ruins of monasteries round the
Wrekin, the Roman city of
Viroconium (
Wroxeter), the lordly castle of
Ludlow, giving the county a place apart in the heart of the
antiquary. In
Shrewsbury itself, where once Grey, Black, and Austin Friars and the Black Monks of St. Benedict had foundations, there is now the cathedral, designed by
Edward Pugin.
Chester, too, with its streets, black and white houses, and venerable cathedral and city walls, claims the visitor's attention. When the body of
Daniel O'Connell was brought back from
Genoa, it rested in the old chapel in Queen's Street on its way to Ireland. ==See also==