A book review

The Langdale family were among those Catholic gentry families who maintained their faith in Penal times and enabled others to do so on and around their estate at Houghton Hall in East Yorkshire. In ‘The Langdale Legacy’, Martin Craven charts the family’s origin, their survival during the most hostile of the anti-Catholic persecutions and the eventual reflourishing marked by the building of a large and impressive chapel at Houghton Hall in 1829. It may well have been in response to the Houghton chapel that an even larger and grander one was built on the nearby Everingham estate ten years later. Information is supplied on the chaplains who served at Houghton as well as on life on the estate. Finally, the book takes us through the founding of a chapel in the nearby town of Market Weighton and of the gradual transfer of operations from Houghton to the new parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Market Weighton. The chapel at Houghton no longer stands but the modern church at Market Weighton is a worthy successor and is, indeed, part of the Langdale legacy.

Martin Craven’s book is another fine work from the pen of a skilled local historian and richly complements his earlier work on Catholicism in Holderness, ‘Faith in Adversity’. Copies of ‘The Langdale Legacy’ are available from Martin on (01482) 640081. Cost is £10.00 plus £1.70 postage and packing. The book is part sponsored by the Diocesan Archives and any profits go to Market Weighton parish.