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Wainsgate
Baptist Church, West Yorkshire
Wainsgate owes its origins to the eighteenth-century Evangelical Revival.
Its founding was heavily influenced by the preaching of the Reverend William
Grimshaw, incumbent of Haworth Parish Church and a charismatic religious
reformer. The first chapel was established about 1750. Dr John Fawcett
DD, the revered Baptist preacher came to Wainsgate in 1764 and is commemorated
in the church. He wrote the Baptist hymn, ‘The Tie That Binds’.
The present building of 1859-60, is constructed of hammered stone with
ashlar dressings and executed in a robust classical manner. The entrance
frontage is imposing with a pedimented gable end and a doorway which has
panelled pilasters, a fan-light and spandrels capped by a moulded cornice.
There are two tiers of round-arched windows.
The interior was furnished in the 1860s and later enhanced in the 1890s.
From the earlier period remain the curved gallery and pewing and from
the later a magnificent octagonal pulpit in variously coloured marbles
and alabaster with shallow reliefs designed by Anthony Welsh. The communion
table dates from 1896. Its barley-twist oak communion rails are the work
of J W Mitchell of Halifax. The stained glass is by the Powell Brothers
of Leeds. The wagon roof and archways of the organ loft retain their original
decorative treatment.
Attached to the church are ancillary buildings including a former school,
started in 1834, of 1890 which was adapted from the former manse. The
leafy hillside burial ground contains Fawcett’s grave, marked by
a listed monument of 1771, together with several World War I graves with
characteristic curved headstones. The chapel stands high above Hebden
Bridge, centre of the early Yorkshire Baptist movement, and enjoys incomparable
views across Wadsworth Moor
The
chapel came into the care of HCT in late 2004. The Architectural Heritage
Fund has awarded a £7,500 grant towards the cost of an Options Appraisal
exercise. Wiles and Macquire architects of York have been commissioned
to undertake the Options Appraisal – which is due to be completed
by spring 2009.
Fundraising
for a programme of repairs to the church and school house/provision of
new toilets/kitchen facilities is now under way. Events, including concerts,
have been held in the church and our local group are organising an Open
Day on the afternoon
of Sunday 10 May.
Grid
reference SD998288.
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