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To contact us: Sedbergh Methodist Church New Street Sedbergh LA10 5AF |
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E-mail: Office@sedberghmethodistchurch.org |
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HISTORY |
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Garsdale Street Chapel Methodist evangelists had been active in Garsdale for some years, and following the revival of the 1830s in Cotterdale amongst the unruly miners, converted through the preaching of William Clowes, Cotterdale Chapel was opened on 13 May 1836, and in 1841 Garsdale Street Chapel was built, some 20 years before the present Parish Church of St John. Two of the first Trustees were stonemason brothers, who ‘presumably built the Chapel and adjoining 3 cottages’ in what is now The Street, between the chapel and the river Clough, and the outward appearance belies its existence. The site of 10 sq. yds confined the brothers to a simple layout. The chapel interior remains basically the same today as when it was built, with the painted box-like tiered seats improving the eye-contact between preacher and worshippers - a style that was copied in later chapels in the area - and the ‘penitent form’ still standing below the pulpit where public confessions were encouraged to be made. Some minor changes to lighting and heating have been made in what is otherwise a period Primitive Methodist chapel. What has not changed over the years is the worship based on the singing of the old hymns, often with choruses and using the tunes of Moody and Sankey. Indeed the Garsdale Gospel Singers missioned far and wide for upwards of 40 years, proclaiming the love of God. Today Garsdale Methodists share worship at Low Smithy at 2 pm and Street at 6:30pm.
Hawes Junction Chapel Mount Zion Chapel was opened in 1876, after the site was sold for £5 by a Skipton wine-merchant to the Superintendent Preacher, residing at Middleham, and 12 Trustees. These were mainly farmers, but included 2 labourers and a stonemason. The Settle to Carlisle railway had opened for freight a year earlier, and passenger traffic had begun that year. A settled community of railway employees were now housed in the Railway Terrace and at Moorcock Cottages, just over the county boundary, while the army of construction workers had moved on, after 7 hard years, and their huts had been dismantled. Although seemingly isolated, the chapel adjoins the busy trunk road, A684, and is strategically placed at a confluence of dales, with roads to Hawes, to Mallerstang and Kirkby Stephen, via the coal road to Dent, and to Garsdale. The building has been extensively repaired, reroofed and redecorated, but services are now only held 2 or 4 times a year. With its railway connections and historic interest it remains one of the most beautiful and best decorated of all wayside chapels.
Dent Foot Chapel This small Society has met here in this building for well over a hundred years. The Membership of 9 has increased slightly over the years and now draws largely upon an area between Dent and Millthrop. Originally leased at a nominal rent from the Burra family of Gate, the property was purchased in March 1956 and considerably improved at a cost of £600 or so. Worship is centred on the first floor, and though the ground floor premises are extensive, little use has been made of them, despite youth groups being encouraged to use them to the glory of God. From time to time these efforts have been successful. Sunday afternoon worship continues to be supported by worshippers coming by car, and apart from the old water-mill, still in use on the same site, there are no near neighbours. A pleasant walking-distance from Sedbergh or Dent when the weather is kind, and situated on the well-used Dalesway path, the chapel provides a welcome retreat from a world in turmoil. ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls’. Matthew 11:28-29.
Dentdale Chapel Originally the Society of Friends had built a meeting house in 1701 on this site with land adjoining. After Methodism was reintroduced into the dale in 1803 by Jonathan Kershaw, the Wesleyans used to meet in an old barn, bought for £40 and used for worship. But by 1834 this had become in such bad repair as to be unsafe, and they bought for £20 the meeting house and land from the Quakers, who had by then concentrated their work further up the dale. Since then this building has been in continuous use, first by Wesleyans and then, after Union in September 1933, by both Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists. It has recently experienced another change of emphasis, as it has become with Deepdale the combined Society of ‘Dentdale Methodist Church’. As recently as 1961 the original Quaker burial-ground adjoining ‘was purchased and presented to the Trustees in memory of the late William Middleton, a life long Methodist Local Preacher’. In the intervening years the premises have been remodelled on at least 3 occasions, the second in 1892, and again in the late 1980s. A large schoolroom, kitchen and toilets were also added on the south side, made possible by a generous gift of land in memory of the late James Rowland Burton, ‘the singing butcher’, and opened in March 1968. These now form an additional facility as doctors’ surgery and waiting-room. The main chapel building has in recent years been completely renovated, refloored and reroofed, and the interior made more user-friendly, with chairs replacing most of the original pews.
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