[1] In 1800, forty Catholics led by William Rigby met Fr Vincent Louis Dennis, a French priest who was in the area to tutor to the children of John Payne, the owner of Newhill Hall in Wath-upon-Dearne, who agreed to serve the local Catholic community.

Fr Dennis died in 1819, but in 1822, the local congregation laid the foundations for a church which was completed in 1824.

Through the efforts of the then Parish Priest, a second and larger church was opened in 1832, with schoolroom accommodation in the cellars beneath.

The site of the church, which was opened in 1905, is in an elevated position and its spire visible across the skyline of Barnsley town centre.

[1] The church is in the Late Victorian Gothic style, with a Welsh slate roof and a tower to the north-west of the building.