After the English Reformation there remained a strong Roman Catholic influence in the parish, with worship particularly focused in Singleton. In the late 16th century there were 13 houses in the parish that were known to shelter seminarians. In 1583, the family of Cardinal William Allen, a prominent opponent of the Reformation, were holding three or four masses daily at their home at nearby Rossall. In the early 19th century, a Roman Catholic chapel was built in the town of Poulton. St John the Evangelist's was built in the north of the town on Breck Road. The building, with its attached presbytery is constructed of rendered brick with a slate roof and has been designated a Grade II listed building. Tradition has it that at some time during the 19th century, the vicar of St. Chad's donated to that church a particularly "papist" vestment. The chapel was replaced by a larger church built a few metres to the south in 1912. The new building, constructed of rock-faced red sandstone in a stripped Romanesque style, was designed by Cuthbert Pugin of Pugin & Pugin.