With the large number of Catholic Immigrants arriving at Cleator Moor during the 1850's there was a spiritual need for a Church in the parish.  At that time the Catholic Priest at
Whitehaven, Father William Gregory Holden of the Order of St Benedict [OSB] saw this need and founded a Mission at Cleator. He obtained land at Brookside and built the new Church there in 1853. The original Church which had been dedicated to St Bega opened in December of that year. The building of this original Church, was off a stone structure in the decorated style having a stone tower, and the Church when it was built could accommodate some 600 Parishioners. The cost of this Church had been in the region of £1,500, and would later become part of St Marys School, on the building of the new present Church.

Father Holden who had been ordained a Priest on October 27th 1816, left Whitehaven to live in his new Parish, but sadly died there, at Cleator on the 8th January 1859 at the age of 68 years. He was succeeded by Father Williams who in turn was succeeded by Father Matthew Gregory Brierly OSB, who became Parish Priest from 1868 until 1875, and many think that even though Fr Holden founded the mission, it was Fr Brierly that saw it firmly established, as within a year and a half from his arrival, the foundation stone of the larger present Church had been laid; the need for this new and larger Church had become an necessity because of the increasing number of Catholics arriving in the Town, and it was on the 23rd of June 1872 that the present Church, which had been built to a design by Messrs Pugin and Pugin of London, was opened and dedicated to "Our Lady of the Sacred Heart".

Below is a list of Parish Priests who have served Cleator: