Lawson Garth farmstead in Bishop Thornton was given to the Catholic Church in 1790 for the priest to live in. They raised the top floor to create a secret room, accessed by a trapdoor, in which to celebrate mass.
St. Joseph's Church was built in 1809, adjacent to the farm. It was the first Catholic church to be built in the Leeds Diocese after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1780.
