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History
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| 1824 | Plans drawn up by Joseph Ireland, a prominent Catholic architect, for a Catholic chapel in Wentworth Terrace
| | 1826 | | First Parish Priest Fr John George Morris is transferred to Wakefield to run "Wakefield Mission" (as St Austins was known) on behalf of the Jesuits |  |
| | 1828 | St Austin's opened formally on 4th March by Rt. Rev. Thomas Smith Co-adjutor bishop of the Northern District
| | 1838 | St Austin's is registered as a place for solemnising marriages.
| | 1852 | A census the previous year indicates that the church is too small to cope with the parishioners' increasing numbers.
The original church extended from the
front of the current sanctuary to the level
of the entrance porch. Entrance was by a
door in the back wall
of the church. |  | Extensions are made to move the back wall to its current position, the door moves to where it now is, and the balcony is added.
| | 1856 | Considerable internal decorations are made, including the installation of the current Stations of the Cross.
| | 1859 | Foundations laid for the original St Austin's School which once stood at the top of what is now Marsh Way
| | 1862 | Riots occur in Wakefield when a Frenchman named Baron de Camin provokes the Irish residents by giving lectures on the "Errors of Popery"
| | 1865 | Charles Waterton, parishioner and benefactor of St Austins dies aged 83 after a fall in the grounds of Walton Hall
| 1868
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1869 | Overcrowing in the church inspires brief plans to build a new St Austin's church on the corner of George Street and Southgate adjacent to the Zion Chapel. However, these plans prove inpractical and instead the two houses to the west of St Austins are purchased and converted into the Presbytery
| | 1876 | Work begins on a building in Ossett which was to form the beginnings of St Ignatius Parish
| | 1878 | Diocese of Leeds created
| | 1878 | Further alterations are made to St Austins to convert the old presbytery , no longer needed due to the new one, into a new sanctuary for the church. The Lady Chapel is also added and the resulting building layout largely matches St Austins as it is today
| | 1890 | Further alterations and decoration occurs including decoration of the sanctuary and Lady Chapel
| | 1892 | The church bell, dedicated to
St Joseph, is installed and consecrated by Bishop
Gordon of Leeds |  | | | 1898 | Small altars are built either side of the front of the church, between the pillars, to house the statues of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady. |
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Bulletin 29.08.10.doc
Our History 
