Keighley Churches Now & Then

CONGREGATIONALISM  IN  KEIGHLEY

 by John Newhill

(based on “!00 Years of Progress” by the Rev. W. Reid Marchbank)

Introduction

The basic idea of “Congregationalism” arose during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. When she re-established the Protestant Church of England in 1558, there were a number of people who did not think that the established church was sufficiently Protestant. These were the “Dissenters”. Refusing to accept the queen as Head of the Church and also refusing to pay tithes to the local vicar, they believed that bishops, vestments and ritual were against the teaching and spirit of the original Christian church. Many Dissenters were persecuted, others fled to Holland and a few remained, worshipping in secret. In 1620 a number left Plymouth for America in the “Mayflower”. During of the Civil War, the Dissenters united with other groups opposed to the autocratic rule of King Charles I, and together they defeated and deposed him. By this time, the Dissenters had split into three main groups – Presbyterians, Independents and Baptists (the Independents were so-called because they believed that each church should be totally independent of any authority except that of God Himself, and His wishes would be revealed to the meeting of the congregation). For a hundred years after the Restoration of 1660 many Independents found it advisable to describe themselves as “Presbyterians”, as the Presbyterians had opposed the execution of King Charles, while the Independents (who included Oliver Cromwell among their number) had been in favour of it.

(c) John Newhill

UPPER GREEN

The Toleration Act of 1689 allowed Protestant Dissenters to worship in their own way in their own (licensed) buildings. A church was built at Bingley and several houses were licensed in Keighley, including West Riddlesden Hall. Around 1730 they decided to establish a church in Keighley and a barn near the top of High Street was converted for use as a meeting-house. Unfortunately it collapsed in 1760 and another one was built on the same site. This one was replaced in 1821. The new chapel could seat 300 worshippers - a figure which, when compared with the new Methodist chapel on Temple Street (which could seat over 1000), probably gave an indication of the popularity of Methodism at the time. The longest ministry at Upper Green was that of the Rev. Joseph Tattersfield, who was minister from 1834 to 1868. When he took up the pastorate the church had 42 members, and congregations were much smaller than that. In twenty years the member­ship of the church had quad­rupled and there were 270 children attending the Sunday School. By this time the premises at Upper Green seemed woefully inadequate and the decision was taken to build a new and larger church on the then outskirts of the town – in Devonshire Street. The little church at Upper Green was then closed and let out. In 1874 however it was re-opened as a Sunday school the facilities at the new church were proving inadequate. Evening services followed and in 1886 the church became independent of the mother church once more. It continued to function as small down-town church in the shadow of the larger Devonshire Street until it finally closed in 19xx.  

(c) John Newhill

UTLEY

Independents had been meeting in private houses in Utley since 1770. A church was built in 1846 on the south-west side of the main road from Keighley to Skipton. This was the first daughter-church of Devonshire Street, and was partly financed by John Brigg of that church. The building was replaced twenty-six years later by another church on the opposite side of the road. This latter seated 400 people and was now a separate church, independent of Devonshire Street. After the Second World War member­ship dec­lined and the church finally closed in 1964, the last services being held on 29th November.
 
(c) John Newhill

KNOWLE PARK U.R.C.

(TrinityChurch)

Knowle Park Mission was started in HolycroftSchool in 1893 as an off-shoot of DevonshireStreetChurch. Within a few years it was clear that a permanent building was needed; a site was bought at the junction of Fell Lane and Oakworth Road and the new church was opened in November 1897. The premises were enlarged in 1914 and in 1931 Knowle Park became an independent church, with 55 members transferred from Devonshire Street. For many years the church shared a minister with the IngrowChurch, which was situated about half a mile away. 
                                                    

In the 1990’s dwindling membership in churches of all denominations led to discussions among the members of the remaining four Congregational churches in Keighley, with a view to amalgamation. The decision was finally taken to close the main church in the town centre, and close Ingrow, leaving KnowlePark and Riddlesden as the sole Congregational churches in the town. The name “Knowle Park” was then changed to “Trinity Church”, marking the amalgamation of the three churches.

1971 both churches voted to join the new United Reformed Church.
 
(c) John Newhill

RIDDLESDEN U.R.C.

The building of new houses in the Riddlesden area in the 1930’s highlighted the need for a Congregational presence in the area. A Sunday School was started in the Riddlesden Institute in May, 1938. Numbers rapidly increased and in 1944 the deacons at DevonshireStreetChurch decided that a separate building was necessary. Land was purchased near the canal on Bar Lane, and a former YMCA hut was bought and erected on the site. This was opened in October, 1945. Three years later monthly services were instituted. By 1955 the church had 190 members and the Sunday School 185 pupils. The premises were extended and the new buildings opened on 11th February 1956. In 1965 the church gained its own minister for the first time. In 1971 the members of the church voted to join the new United Reformed Church.

(c) John Newhill

INGROW U.R.C

Ingrow was the result of collaboration between the five Congregational churches and missions in Keighley. The new mission opened in July 1908 in premises which had been built as a laundry for IngrowCouncilSchool, on the corner of Ingrow Lane and Queen’s Road. Within three years there were over 300 scholars in the school and an average evening congregation of 280. The premises were clearly not big enough; the building was enlarged and re-opened on 31st May 1913. The mission continued to flourish and for many years shared a minister with the KnowleParkChurch. In 1971 both churches voted to join the new United Reformed Church. By the 1990’s however the decline in church-going and the change in social patterns meant that the members of Devonshire Street, KnowlePark and Ingrow decided that three separate churches were no longer viable and one church would be sufficient. IngrowChurch building was sold to Ingrow St. John’s Scout & Guide Groups, the Congregationalists continuing to lease the Sanctuary. They finally gave up the lease on 31st October 1998 and they then joined the congregation at KnowlePark.

St Peter's Church  - 1910 information

This church was situated in Halifax Road and was consecrated on January 25th  1882, taking the place of a large iron Mission building, used for Divine Service and Sunday School, from the commencement of the work on St Peter's Day, June 29th 1872. It was a finely proportioned structure in the Early English Style of architecture. The Rev. Robt. Stansfield, Vicar was the first curate-in-charge, and was instituted to the parish on its formation in 1882; assistant curate  Rev. H.A. Crowther Alwyn, B.A. A good vicarage house was built on Victoria Road, near which a commodious site has been aquired for Sunday School buildings, towards the cost about which £500 had been raised. A Sunday School had been much needed in the midst of a population of 7,500 working class.

The regular Sunday services  inc. Children's Services, Churchings, Holy Baptisms, Communions etc.

There was a voluntary choir of men, women and boys. Allan Fortune was the organist and choir trainer assisted by Miss Gertrude Waller on the organ.

Other names associated with this church

Miss Pigott of Thorncliffe - Mother's Union
F SImpson & Mrs Moffatt are the wardens
there are 12 sidesmen.

West Lane Chapel in 1910

Approached also from Devonshire Street West.

Built in 1879; cost £4,000, Sittings 850. New School premises opened in 1902 cost £3,000.

Sunday Services

Organist & Choirmaster Miss Garnett
School Sessions with select classes for young men and women.
Adult Bible Class.

School Superintendents:
T Whittaker
T C Crossland

Teachers 50
Scholars 260

St Anne's Church

The architect for St Anne's was Augustus Welby Pugin. This made the building of considerable interest, because it was the first church built in England by Pugin. It is now a Grade 2 listed building.

The Catholic community of Keighley prior to the building of the church had to walk over the moors to Mydleton Lodge, Ilkley for Sunday Mass. Sometime the priest from Mydleton would walk from Ilkley and meet the people and say Mass in the open air on the moors.

In 1835 a mission was instigated in Keighley by Fr Hampson who became the first resident priest since the reformation.

Mass was said in a room on Queen Street, maybe in the public house - The Queen Street Arms. In this year (1835) eleven baptisms were recorded.

A Fr Gibson was made parish priest in 1836. He began to look round for land on which to build a church. A piece of land was obtained, purchased from the Duke of Devonshire in 1838. The presbytery was built first then the church. The estimate for the magnificent building was £1,620. The mason being a local man named Dan Brown.

The church was officially opened on November 21st 1840. The building was much smaller than it is today. The house and church were not at this time connected as it is now. The entrance into the church was where the passage joining the two buildings now is. The alter was where the entrance now is.

The Catholic community now needed a school. Because of the potato famine in Ireland, large numbers emigrated to America and England. The people who arrived here in Keighley settled in the Westgate area, which soon became known as "The Irish Quarter". White's directory of 1853 shows the increase in population.
1841 - 13,412
1851 - 18,262
An increase in 10 years of 4,850.

The congregation of St Anne's was now 1800, of which 450 were children. Fr Walsh the parish priest decided that a school was needed. In 1857 St Anne's school was opened.

With the Forster Education Act 1870, making school attendance compulsory, more children attended the school, soon enlargement became necessary. In the 1870 - 1880 period further classrooms were added. Seven classrooms in total, three senior, two junior and two infants. Further enlargement took place in 1901.

Due to the influx of Irish immigrants the church needed to be enlarged. It was to be twenty years later, when, at last, the enlargement was done. This was made possible through the hard work of Fr. Joseph Russell who became parish priest of St Anne's in 1905.

The whole church was "turned around". The North Street entrance is where the alter used to be, the alter as it is now was part of the extensions, the original entrance near the presbytery was incorporated into the passage built to join the house and church.The large church was open in September 1907.

Fr. Russell was to remain as parish priest at St Anne's until his death in 1945. He became Canon Russell in 1915 andlater in 1931 he became Monsignor. It was as Monsignor I knew him. My parents usually referred to him as Cannon. He was a great one for building churches and schools. True to his reputation he bought land on Queen's Road, Ingrow for a school in 1913. Due to the onset of the first world war the development was delayed. The school was eventually opened in 1922. The cost in 1913 was to have been £6,300 - the final cost was £14,000.

Mass was said in the basement of the school, a priest coming from St Anne's to do this.
The door to the parish hall underneath the school is the original church door from St Anne's.
 

(c) Margaret Farrar.

History of St. Andrew's Church, Keighley

Keighley is recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) as "Chichelai". Until recently it was the smaller neighbour of Haworth and Steeton. It became a market town in 1305, but at the poll tax of Richard II 70 years later the population was only 115. Miles Gale (Rector 1680-1721) records that in his day, Keighley had 100 houses and 600 inhabitants. The opening of the Leeds - Liverpool Canal in 1773 put Keighley on the map, followed by the railways in 1847: in 1801 the population numbered 5,745; in 1851 it was 18,258, and by 1901, 41,564. It now numbers over 60,000. The town was incorporated as a borough in 1882, and in 1974 became part of Bradford Metropolitan District.

The Domesday entry makes no mention of a Church. Our earliest record is when Richard, son of Ralph de Kighley, donated to Bolton Priory certain lands in Schipton (Skipton) and Fernhill (Farnhill), together with the patronage of the Church of Kighley (as it was spelt until the 19th Century). Shortly afterwards, in 1245, the Prior and Canons of Bolton Priory presented the first Rector, William le Vasavour (see list of Rectors). He was later appointed a "Justice of Trailbaston", to try hooligans in the reign of Edward I (unfortunately his successors have not been granted similar powers!).

The original medieval Church was demolished in 1805 with the aid of the amazing new technology of dynamite. In its foundations were discoverd two stones now preserved at the front of the south aisle: a tomb cover and a Celtic cross, possibly the preaching cross which preceded the building of the Church. Two other medieval monuments are also there, and the font dating from 1661. At one point the font was turned out and used as a blacksmith's slaking-trough before being restored to the Church in 1934. The pinnacled font cover was a gift of two members of the Marriner family when the present Church was built. Another monument from the original Church is the grave-slab of John Drake (died 1713), founder of the Grammar School and benefactor to the town, now at the front of the nave.

Its successor lasted only 40 years. The present building dates from 1848. It cost £7,000 raised from public subscriptions. The style is Victorian Gothic. The reredos in stone and alabaster portraying the Ascension dates from 1881. In 1900 a new entrance was made at the west end of the tower. (Previously the South door was the main entrance.) In 1903 the clock was given which chimes to the tune of S.S. Wesley's motet "Lead me, Lord, in thy righteousness". In 1931 the side galleries were removed, leaving only the West gallery. The area under the West Gallery was re-ordered in 1982 and the new room named after Canon Clifford Hamer (Rector 1950-71). The nave and chancel were re-ordered in 1985, with a nave altar (a dining table dated 1678), and chairs replacing pews.

The first mention of a Church Organ was in 1811, the next in 1857. The present organ was built by Brindley and Foster in 1877, and rebuilt in 1955. It consist of an enclosed Choir Organ on the north side of the chancel, with the Great, Swell and Pedal departments housed on the South side. The console is at the front of the North aisle, next to the choir stalls. The Bells were originally cast in 1761 as a ring of six. They were re-cast and re-hung as a ring of eight in 1914.

There are several fine examples of Victorian and 20th-Century stained glass: the West Window bears the arms of Queen Victoria, the Bishop of Ripon (Keighley was part of Ripon Diocese from its formation from York Diocese in 1836 until Bradford Diocese was founded in 1919), the Duke of Devonshire and Earl of Burlington (then Patron), Frederick Greenwood (benefactor) and Rev. William Busfield (then Rector). In the North Chancel wall are illustrated Christ the Light of the world, the Good Shepherd, and St. Peter and St. Andrew. On the South side are Samuel and Elijah, John the Baptist and St. Paul, and symbols of the four Evangelists. The East Window portrays the Te Deum, showing Christ in glory attended by angels, prophets, martyrs and representatives of ourselves, the Church on earth. In the North wall of the Nave is a modern window showing Christ calling the four fishermen, and in the South wall the Transfiguration, and Christ with children.

The Church Registers date back to 1562. In that year there were 25 baptisms, 14 marriages and 32 burials; in 1662: 39 baptisms, 13 marriages and 59 burials; in 1762: 116 baptisms, 24 marriages and 90 burials. The registers, with the churchwarden's accounts books from 1661 and other documents are now kept by the West Yorkshire Archive Service . We read that "Tho. Rownson was stocked and whipped Ap. 28 1642" (the stocks were by the West door). Special collections were made such as October 8th 1666 for "Ye poore of London who suffered from ye late fire ye sum of £1-17-10", October 19th 1678 for building St. Paul's Cathedral 14/2d, August 15th 1680 "Collected in ye Parish of Kighley towards ye redemption of captives by ye Turks ye sum of nineteen shillings and a penny", and April 16th 1682 "Collected in ye Parish of Kighley for reliefe of ye French distessed protestants the sum of eighteen shillings and sixpence".

© Keighley Shared Church Ecumenical Council 2005

Rectors of St. Andrew's Church, Keighley

The old Market Cross, has been moved several times, it was at Whinburn, the home of Prince Smith for many years, at some point it was on the roundabout on High Street, Keighley in front of the Albert Public House.
It is now in a prominent position in front of the Parish Church.

This letter from John Wesley to Thomas Rankin was donated to Temple Street Methodist Church. The text of the letter is:

"Bristol. March 20, 1762
My Dear Brother,
You should act as an Assistant in Sussex. Therefore see that our Rules be everywhere observed; and spread our books wherever you go, particularly Kempis, Primitive Physic and Instructions for Children.
Before eight weeks are ended the Societies will be able to secure you an house. O be simple! Be a little Child before God!
I am
Your affectionate brother J Wesley
Read and pray much.
To Mr. Tho. Rankin, At Mr. Barker's, In Sevenoaks, Kent":

http://www.keighleysharedchurch.org.uk/kscmethhistory.html
© Keighley Shared Church Ecumenical Council 2005