St James the Great Church, Hebden Bridge

 About to celebrate it's 190th Anniversary in October, St James the Great, or Hebden Bridge Parish Church or Mytholm Church is a Grade II listed Anglican place of worship in the Mytholm area of Hebden Bridge. Built under the Million Pound Act, a government scheme to develop churches in growing areas the church cost £2700 and was consecrated on the 5th October 1833.

The church was originally a chapelry in the Parish of Heptonstall until the Parish of Hebden Bridge was created in 1844, the church was enlarged in the 1876 with a chancel added, and various additional alterations before the 20th century commenced. The last alterations were to the tower in the early 1980's. The stained glass windows all date from the 1870's.

The stone cross war memorial found in the grounds is dedicated to the local men killed in the First World War, there is an additional memorial inside the church.

I took these pictures with a Samsung Galaxy Tablet on the 16th November 2013.

Built using Yorkshire Stone and rising 14ft high, this memorial is dedicated to the men killed from the local area in World War 1.

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Dean Head Church, Scammonden

 Dean Head Church or by it's proper name St Bartholomew's Church opened in 1865 occupying a spot then overlooking the Dean Head Clough Valley and since 1969 overlooking Scammonden Reservoir and The M62 Motorway. It is the 3rd church or chapel to have been built at this location since 1615. 

St Bartholomew's is the main building in a small cluster that also includes the former Dean Head School and a couple of dwellings. The rest of Dean Head - Scammonden village was lost in the early 1960's when the motorway and dam were built.

As the reservoir filled it was expected that the church and nearby buildings would become unsafe, many people expected these to have been demolished by the late 1970's -80's but happily this has not been the case, with the church roof being replaced in 2002.

These pictures were taken in March 2015 using a Polaroid is2132 bridge camera, they can also be seen on Clickasnap full size, resolution and un-watermarked.

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Square Independent Chapel and Congregational Church Spire, Halifax

Square Independent Chapel opened on the 24th May 1772 taking it's name from the area of Halifax it was built in. The chapel is constructed of red brick and is 60ft square and when opened was the largest independent place of worship in the country. The chapel cost a fortune for the time £2000 to build and the red brick is said to contain bulls blood to highlight the red. 

The chapel held it's last service on the 12th June 1857, when it became the Sunday School for the newly constructed Square Congregational Church, which had recently opened next door. In 1939 the Army took control of the building for the war effort and the Chapel was given Grade II listed status on the 3rd November 1954. The local Council purchased the building in 1969 with a plan to demolish it, the Victorian society getting the building on the listed for preservation register in 1970. In 1985 Calderdale Council once again had a plan to demolish the building, again this never came to fruition before the Square Chapel Building Trust bought the building for £25 in 1989 spending over £3million in the refurbishment of the building which was to become the Square Chapel Arts Centre in 1992.

Square Congregational Church opened on the 15th July 1857 as the replacement for Square Independent Chapel. When built the church had the second tallest spire in Yorkshire at 235ft until Edward Akroyd had the nearby All Souls Church built with a spire that was just 1ft taller. Local legend suggest this was deliberate as Akroyd had a rivalry with the Crossley Family who had contributed to the construction of Square Church. The church held services until 1970, a year after it had merged with the United Congregational Church. 

Square Congregational Church was granted Grade II listed status on the 2nd March 1950. The church became a target for vandals after closure and the main body of the church was devastated by a large fire on the 3rd January 1971, and a further fire and gale before 1973. In 1976 the church was demolished saving the spire and foundations and becoming a rest-garden area until it was closed off in 2005 after the spire had become unsafe. Around this time workmen who had checking the spire structurally became convinced there was a ghost inhabiting an inaccessible area near the top of the spire, this was after photo's they had taken showed a shape that they claimed could not be explained.

The spire remained closed off for a number of years with some members of Calderdale Council requesting its demolition, before the town decided a new library was needed and this was constructed including the spire as a and rose window as a central part of the new building which opened in 2017. The spire with the new library now forms a welcoming part of the new eastern entrance to the Piece Hall.

The Rose Window seen to the left of the spire is based on the east window at Selby Abbey.

The new Halifax Library Building can be seen built around the spire.

These pictures were taken on the 27th October 2019 with a Nikon d3300 SLR camera. They can be seen on Clickasnap full size, resolution and un-watermarked.

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Luddenden Dene Wesleyan Chapel, August 2022

 

Luddenden Dene Wesleyan Chapel opened on Christmas Day 1828 and for a small chapel in a very rural location served the local congregation until November 1978. It had cost £459 17s 7d to build and was popular with the local community. The chapel could hold a congregation of around 200 and often did at Christmas, anniversaries and celebratory times, although normal services around 25 people would attend.

Luddenden Dene Chapel was destroyed by a fire that started in the boiler room in January 1954, after this the congregation met in the Sunday School that they had opened in the 1890's. This continued until 1978 when the congregation had reduced to just 8.

In the cemetery grounds, there are 2 plots that were purchased by Calvert's Mill at nearby Wainstalls for the burial of orphans that dies whilst employed there. Grave 183 which has a headstone and grave 184 which is unmarked. Many of the children were girls from Liverpool and died of disease and malnutrition, some are said to have been buried illegally on the locals moors and to date over 140 have been identified. The picture below shows grave 183.

These pictures were taken on the 16th August 2022 using a Nikon d3300 SLR camera. They can also be seen and purchased full size, resolution and un-watermarked on Clickasnap.

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Todmorden Unitarian Church (April 2017)

 Todmorden Unitarian Church is located at Honey Hole Road, Todmorden, West Yorkshire. The church was built in the memory of John Fielden a local mill owner, social reformer and member of parliament for Oldham between 1832-1847. Fielden was also a prominent member of the local unitarian movement. Building work began in 1865, paid for by his 3 sons Joshua, John and Samuel on land the Fielden family donated, the budget was not limited by them with the final bill over £35000 ( over £3.5 million at 2020 rates). The work was completed in 1869 with the church opening in April with a sermon preached by William Gaskell to a congregation of over 800 people.

The church continued to grow until the early pert of the 20th Century when like most other religions in the UK, congregations started to decline. As numbers decreased it became increasingly harder to fund the upkeep of the building and by 1987 the decision was taken to close the main church building and move services to the nearby lodge at the entrance to the church grounds. These services continued until 1992 when the church and grounds were closed completely.

After the complete closure the church decayed and was subject to large amounts of vandalism. In 1994 the Historic Chapels Trust took over the church and over the next few years spent over £1million pounds on repairs. The church is licensed for weddings and is used locally as a meeting place.

The church was granted Grade I listed status on the 22nd November 1966, with the lodge at the entrance gaining Grade II listed status on the 22nd February 1984.

The following pictures were taken with a Nikon d3300 SLR camera on the 22nd April 2017.

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St Marys Church, Kirkby Lonsdale

The Parish Church of Kirkby Lonsdale, or by it's official name St Mary the Virgin is a Grade I listed Anglican place of worship overlooking the River Lune in the town of Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria.

Standing on it's current site since the 12th Century, with some of the architecture being of Norman build the church has many influences in it's build due to various rebuilds during it's history. In the 14th century the church was extended by rebuilding the north and south walls further out. further developments in the early 16th century included the addition of a new clerestory, pinnacles and battlements, these were removed during further refurbishments in 1807 as a new roof was added. Again the church was remodelled in 1866 by E.G Paley who once raised the roof, re-floored the chancel, added a south porch amongst many other developments.

In the grounds are a number of Grade II listed monuments and a 2 storey octagonal stone gazebo thought to date from the late 18th century. It was moved to it's current location to the north of St Mary's from the garden of the vicarage.

The pictures below were taken on the 4th April 2015 with a Polaroid is2132 camera. They can also be seen on Clickasnap un-watermarked and higher resolution. Click any image for a link to the Clickasnap version to open in another window.

Clicking any image should open a link in another window to the un-watermarked, higher resolution version on Clickasnap.

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Church of the Holy Ascension. Settle Parish Church

Settle Parish Church, or by it's official name Church of the Holy Ascension sits near the centre of the small market town of Settle, North Yorkshire. The church was designed by Thomas Rickman and consecrated on the 26th October 1838 and parts of the interior were remodelled in 1998. Sadly I haven't been able to find much information on the church online and I don't live near enough to call in and ask around.

The pictures were taken on August 23rd 2016 using a Nikon d3300 SLR camera.

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Clicking any image should open a link in another window to the un-watermarked version on Clickasnap.

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