Nonconformists in Bradford

The following source list was originally available only on paper in one of the West Yorkshire Archive Service offices. It may have been compiled many years ago and could be out of date. It was designed to act as a signpost to records of interest on a particular historical subject, but may relate only to one West Yorkshire district, or be an incomplete list of sources available. Please feel free to add or update with any additional information.

In 1800 there were only six places of worship in Bradford: the Parish church of St Peter (now the Cathedral); Horton Lane Chapel Congregationalists; The Unitarian Chapel, Chapel Lane; The Octagon Chapel Methodists, Horton Lane; The Baptists in Westgate and the Quakers in Croft Street. A brief history of each of these churches is given below along with details of records relating to the churches held by West Yorkshire Archive Service: Bradford.

Chapel Lane Independent/ Unitarian Chapel, Chapel Street, Little Horton

This church was the first non-conformist place of worship in Bradford. The current church was built c1718-1719. The Chapel Lane Church has its roots in the Puritan/ Presbyterian movement of the seventeenth century and was built after the Glorious Revolution against King James II in 1688. Soon after the Revolution a group of Dissenters in Bradford began to meet. Among them can be included Thomas Sharp of Horton Hall, Thomas Hodgson and Thomas Ferrand. It is thought that their first meeting place was at Chapel House in Thornton Lane. The Rev Samuel Hulme was minister for the congregation in 1700. By 1716 there were 500 members of the congregation. In 1719 the Presbyterians moved to a new Church in Chapel Lane. The land for the chapel was given by Robert Stansfield a drysalter, who married a daughter of Thomas Sharp (Elizabeth) and whose son Robert Sharp afterwards purchased Esholt Hall. The original deed relating to this gift is held at WYAS: Bradford under reference 44D88/4/1-2 and 22D94/2/1. The Chapel became known as a Unitarian Chapel under Rev John Dean who began his ministry in 1768. In 1869 a new Chapel and Sunday School were built on this site.

A full history of the congregation is given in the Historical Sketch of the Chapel 1719-1919 by the Rev A Cobden Smith held at WYAS: Bradford under reference 44D88/10/1. The records relating to Chapel Lane Church which are held at WYAS: Bradford include the following: (see catalogues 30D80; 31D81; 44D88 and 22D94 for a full list)

Reference	Description	Dates	Repository
30D81	Register of baptisms, manuscript copy	1730-1837	WYAS: Bradford
30D81	Register of burials, manuscript copy	1786-1837	WYAS: Bradford
22D94/1	Grave plans showing position of graves and inscriptions	1866-1938	WYAS: Bradford
22D94/2/1	Grant of land to build a new Church on Chapel Lane	1719	WYAS: Bradford
44D88/1	Chapel Management committee minutes	1859-1969	WYAS: Bradford
44D88/4	Title deeds and appointment of trustees	1719-1957	WYAS: Bradford
44D88/7	Sunday school teachers minute books	1893-1928	WYAS: Bradford

Horton Lane Chapel, Independent

The history of Horton Lane Chapel is bound up with that of Chapel Lane Unitarian Church (see above). When the Rev Dean adopted the Unitarian Creed at the Presbyterian Church in 1780 some of the congregation disagreed with the new theology and formed an Independent Church. Initially the congregation met in the malt chamber of the Old Brewery on Thornton Road. The new chapel was bought in a deed dated 20 Dec 1781, the vendor being Charles Swain Booth Sharp of Horton Hall, the parcel of land was part of a plot called the Croft on Horton Lane opposite Wardley House just below Chester Street. Both the chapel and the graveyard have now been demolished.

The first six ministers were: the Rev Jas Crossley from Saltonstall in Warley; the Rev Thomas Holdgate (1783-1807); the Rev Thomas Taylor from Ossett (1808-1835); the Rev Jonathan Glyde from Exeter (1835-1854); and the Rev James Robertson Campbell from Edingburgh (1855-1883). From 1808 to 1835 some influential Bradfordians attended the Church including Sir Titus Salt who taught Sunday School at the Church and Robert Milligan the first mayor of Bradford.

Records of Horton Lane Chapel held at WYAS: Bradford are catalogued under reference numbers 5D75 and 3D76 and include the following:

Reference	Description	Dates	Repository
5D74/1	Baptism register	1783-1951	WYAS: Bradford
5D74/1	Burial register	1783-1853	WYAS: Bradford
5D74/2	Grave books	19th century	WYAS: Bradford
5D74/4	Abstracts of gravestones with a plan of the graveyard	May 1900	WYAS: Bradford
3D76/1	List of persons admitted into full membership	c1808-1835	WYAS: Bradford

The Old Octagon Chapel, Wesleyan, Horton Road

The Old Octagon Chapel located on Horton Road was the first place of worship in Bradford erected by the Wesleyans. The land for the new chapel was bought in a deed dated 21 December 1765 the vendor being Edward Jobson. The parcel of land for the chapel was previously called Hilly Close and the building was constructed in the shape of an Octagon. The Octagon chapel was closed in 1810 and the congregation moved to Kirkgate Chapel which opened in May 1811. Prior to the building of the Octagon Chapel from c1755 the Wesleyan Congregation met in a large building near the Cock-pit in Aldermanbury. The only records held by WYAS: Bradford for the Octagon Chapel are some accounts 1767-1785, reference 57D76/2/e/1a. Records for Kirkgate Chapel are catalogued under reference numbers: 57D76/2e; 17D81; 11D91/5 amd 54D98.

Westgate Baptist Church

Mr William Crabtree from Warley was the first pastor of the Baptist Church. From c1753 he preached in Bradford once a month. The first meeting place was in the Cock Pit, Tyrrels. By 1755 there were 60 members of the congregation. In the early nineteenth century a new chapel was built in Westgate. The Church moved to Carlisle Road Manningham in 1900 where it is still based today. No records of the church are held by WYAS: Bradford. Westgate Baptist's website

Bradford Quakers (Society of Friends)

In 1651 George Fox the founder of the Society of Friends visited Yorkshire. The beginnings of Quakerism in Bradford can be traced back to the 1650's when Christopher Taylor (from Brighouse) came to Bradford to set up meetings. He later emmigrated to Pennsylvania. John Wynn a clothier was instrumental in setting up a Meeting in Bradford. In 1688 he married Deborah Kitchin of Bradford and together they established a group of Friends in the town. Their house in Goodmansend (now Bridge Street) was often used for meetings. By 1688 there were three Meetings in the town held in private houses at: Goodmansend (Bridge Street); Great Horton and Bowling. There were also meetings at Oakenshaw and Liversedge. At this date there was one Quarterly meeting which covered Yorkshire; below this division there was a Brighouse Monthly meeting (a business meeting for a group of preparative meetings). The Bradford Preparative Meeting formed the lowest administrative tier.

The first land bought by the Quakers in Bradford was located between Horton Park and Park Avenue Cricket Ground. It was bought in c1656 and used for burials. In 1835 the land was sold to John Hardy of Little Horton, a quarryman. A second burial ground in Goodmansend (Bridge Street) was given to the quakers in c1672 by Matthew Wright. Burials took place at the Goodmansend burial ground between 1672-1699. In 1698 the Goodmansend burial ground was converted into the first Quaker Meeting House in Bradford. This property was sold by the Quakers in 1876. The Quakers then re-located to a meeting house in Fountain Street which was built in 1878 and sold in 1951. It is now Gatsbys Night Club. Bradford Society of Friends now meet at Russell Street. No original records of Bradford Society of Friends are held by WYAS: Bradford however, the following book contains a transcript of Bradford registers between 1650-1926: H R Hodgson, The Society of Friends in Bradford . A copy of this book is held by WYAS: Bradford.

Idle Quakers (Society of Friends)

Some information on the Quaker Burial Grounds in Idle is given in J Horsfall Turner's book, Idle, Upper Chapel Burial Registers and Graveyard Inscriptions including names of monumental inscriptions. The information regarding the burial grounds in Idle given below is taken from this book.

There was no Quaker meeting house built in Idle. However there were two fields used as burial grounds for friends. Firstly a corner of a field in Westfield Lane and secondly a private Quaker burial ground at Thackley End, Idle.

Eastbrook Wesleyan Chapel/ Eastbrook Hall Methodist Mission, Leeds Road

Eastbrook Wesleyan Chapel was founded in 1825 and located on Leeds Road. It was part of Bradford East Circuit which included Dudley Hill, Bradford Moor, Calverley and Bierley Lane (later known as Eastbrook Circuit). By 1899 the Old Eastbrook chapel was considered to be unsafe for public worship and services were transferred to the Sunday School. In 1901 it was decided to pull down the old chapel and erect a Central Mission Hall on the site, at this time Eastbrook Wesleyan Chapel was separated from Bradford East Circuit. The opening services for the new mission hall took place between 21 Mar- 10 Apr 1904 (details of the opening ceremony are given in the Bradford Courier, 8 Sep 1825). In 1907 the circuit was re-formed as Bradford Wesleyan Mission (later Bradford Methodist Mission) and included Eastbrook, Southend and Prospect Halls, and Bethesda Chapel which was amalgamated in 1950 with Tennyson Place Methodist (formerly Primitive Methodist) Church. Eastbrook Hall has lain empty since the 1980s and a major fire in 1996 left it derelict, burnt out and roofless. The closing of the Church is recorded in Eastbrook Mission Committee minutes on the 7 October 1985 (47D86/32/3). On the closing of the Church the remaining members of the Church were dispersed among other churches in Bradford. Eastbrook Hall has now been re-developed into offices and flats which were opened in 2008.

The Sunday School work of Eastbrook Wesleyan Methodists began in 1826 shortly after the Chapel was founded. The first Sunday School was located in School Street, then in 1826 moved to Union Street. In 1830 school buildings were opened in George Street and in 1832 an extra building was opened in Park Street. These two schools operated simultaneously until 1846 when a new building was erected in Chapel Street. The 1846 Chapel Street building was replaced in 1878 (see 47D86/23/2 - Eastbrook Sunday School Cuttings book for more details).

The records relating to Eastbrook Hall/ Eastbrook Wesleyan Chapel which are held at WYAS: Bradford include the following: (see catalogues 47D86; 66D86; 67D86; 22D88; 8D90; 29D94; and 54D94 for a full list)

Reference	Description	Dates	Repository
47D86/27/1-5	Baptism registers	1826-1986	WYAS: Bradford
47D86/28/1-17	Marriage registers	1858-1985	WYAS: Bradford
47D86/29/1-3	Burial register	1826-1896	WYAS: Bradford
47D86/29/2	Plan of the cemetery	nd	WYAS: Bradford
47D86/35/9	Block plan of chapel site showing grave plots with names of owners	nd [pre 1901]	WYAS: Bradford
47D86/30/1-6	Leaders meetings	1861-1979	WYAS: Bradford
47D86/35/1	Agreement for the purchase of land at Eastbrook chapel	1823	WYAS: Bradford
47D86/42	Eastbrook Wesleyan Chapel Sunday and Day School Log books and registers	1863-1965	WYAS: Bradford