At the end of 2025, we produced the definitive history of the parish in a book titled ‘The Parish and Church of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Stephen Harding at Market Drayton in Shropshire’. Designed, assembled and mostly written by Tim Strickland, formerly a distinguished archaeologist and historian, but together with important contributions from other parishioners, this book is an outstanding example of what a parish history can be.

In essence, it is the story of an English Roman Catholic parish founded in 1857, in north Shropshire: but this important book is much more than a conventional parish-history. In a series of chapters outlining key stages in the history of Market Drayton and the surrounding area, the book includes the story of the arrival of Christianity in the area, during the Roman period, and the coming of the Anglo-Saxons. The local entries in the Domesday Survey of 1086 are described and explained. The story is told of the Cistercian monks of Combermere Abbey and of their establishment of a weekly market in 1245, which led to the development of the town of Market Drayon, out of the two earlier Saxon manors. The life of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274), to whom the parish would be dedicated in the mid-19th century, is told in some detail, with description and explanation of the theological significance of his stance on many issues which are still of current relevance today. The book also includes the life of Saint Stephen Harding (1050s-1134), who was added to the original dedication of the parish in 1887. As one of the principal founders of the Cistercian Order, at Cîteaux in Burgundy, in 1098, the link to the parish via Cistercian Combermere is central to the story. Next, the whole saga of the treatment and ultimate survival of Roman Catholicism in England, after the Reformation, is told through two detailed calendars-of-dates.

Also included are a number of articles, ranging from the Harding and Clifford families, who did so much to help the fledgling parish, to Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK in 2010, the Church’s synodal process, pilgrimage, the Redemptorists of Hawkstone, some important issues of our times, the Permanent Diaconate, what young people think and need from the Church, and various other thought-provoking contributions. Chapters are devoted to a full description of the church building itself, together with details of the remarkably beautiful and important Sanctuary and stained-glass. The appendices include the lives of the Parish Priests, the World Wars and Remembrance. The book is lavishly illustrated throughout.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy, please apply to the Saints Thomas & Stephen Administrator at ssthomasandstephen@gmail.com.