A Short History of Keyworth Parish

In 1959 the growth of Keyworth prompted the late Canon Buckley to seek a site for a church in this village. The search lasted until 1983 when the present site was obtained. Unable to build a church the Canon opened a mass centre in the British Legion Club in September 1962.

In December of that year the council of the Church of England invited him to say the midnight mass in their church hall (a former school) at Christmas and to continue using it on Sundays. The catholics used these quarters for seven years.

In November 1969 the chapel of Mary Ward College was opened and became the centre of all catholic services until the college was closed, and became the headquarters of the Geological Survey.

When word first came of the future closing of the college all the ministers of the non-catholic churches at once offered the use of their churches. It was arranged that mass would be said in the methodist church, as this was the largest and so the most suitable. The first mass there was said on the first Sunday of September 1977. The methodists continued to make us welcome until our own church was completed in 1984. The consecration of the church of St Margaret Clitherow took place on the 24th October 1984 by The Right Rev. MGR. McGuinness Bishop of Nottingham

From another aspect Keyworth seems to have been unwanted. Under Canon Buckley it was part of the parish of West Bridgeford; but in 1963 it was cut off with Radcliffe on Trent to form a new parish. Ten years later another division of the parish took place and Keyworth with Cotgrave and Tollerton (plus half a dozen other villages) were formed into a new parish. It remains so today.