Methodist New Connexion Chapel, Berry Croft, Honley
Details
- location: Berry Croft, Honley
- status: uncertain
- category: church or chapel
Built by Jonathan Roebuck, a former member of the New Connexion Chapel at Woodroyd[1], the chapel opened on Wednesday 5 November 1851 when a sermon was preached by Rev. J. Stacey of Huddersfield.[2] The chapel eventually closed circa 1887.
The Honley Ratepayer's Association began renting the building for their meetings in 1890.[3]
By 1894, the owner of the property appears to have been local auctioneer Mr. Sykes. In July, the Honley Local Board wrote to warn him that "if the dangerous condition of the Berry Croft Chapel wall is not remedied within 14 days the Board will do the work and charge him with the cost thereof."[4]
Extracts
The History of Honley and its Hamlets from the Earliest Time to the Present (1914) by Mary A. Jagger:
This Chapel was one of the many little Bethels raised by men who had been so strongly influenced by the prevailing religious fervour of that time. Mr. Jonathan Roebuck, of Thirstin, a well-to-do Clothier, and a member of one of Honley’s oldest families, was a devoted member of the Methodist New Connexion body which had been formed at Hall Ing in 1797. Like unto others who had become converts, he was anxious for the conversion of others. Employing a number of workpeople in his trade as Clothier, he gathered them together as well as friends and tenants, and formed a small band of worshippers in Honley. Renting two cottages in Oldfield Buildings, they were adapted for a meeting-house. Here the small band continued to hold services until about 1856, when Mr. Jonathan Roebuck built a Chapel at Berry Croft, near his home, familiarly known as “Jonathan’s Chapel.” Mr. Roebuck gave it over to the Methodist New Connexion body, who supplied its Ministers. The small meeting-room in Oldfield Buildings, which he had rented, was afterwards used by the Primitive Methodists’ Society until able to erect their own Chapel, in 1842. When they vacated the building, it was in turn occupied by another “breaking away” body, who named themselves “Reformers.” During the life-time of Mr. Jonathan Roebuck, there was no lack of religious zeal or active work in connection with Berry Croft Chapel. There was a flourishing Sunday School which held its annual Anniversary and School-feast. After the death of its donor, who had been the life and soul of the little Chapel, its once active influence waned. Old attached members still supported both Chapel and School, but as these passed away, a younger generation went elsewhere. About 1887, Berry Croft Chapel had to close its doors for lack of worshippers, and the building is now rented for secular purposes.
Notes and References
- ↑ West Yorkshire Archive Service: Off the Record.
- ↑ "Opening of the New Connexion Chapel, Honley" in Huddersfield Chronicle (08/Nov/1851).
- ↑ "Honley" in Huddersfield Chronicle (22/Nov/1890). They continued to meet there until at least 1894.
- ↑ "Honley" in Huddersfield Chronicle (21/Jul/1894).