Rowlands Church
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England and Wales, Civil Registration Index: 1837-1983
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The
New Rowlands Church 2005
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Here
is a little bit of history about the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Rowlands
Road, Summerseat.
The
foundation stone was laid on Whit Sunday, May 16th 1845, and the church was
opened in 1847.
An
account book records the cost of building the 1847 Chapel at £4,882. 14
Shillings and 8 Pence. This included such items as - Bees Wax at 2/6d, eight
and a half gallons of linseed oil and turpentine at £1. 5 shillings and 6
pence, also the cost of carving the finials at £23, 10 shillings.
The
accounts book also includes the list of all the people who made donations.
Now John Robinson Kay heads the list with an donation of £1000. In all, a
total of £2,642. 16 shillings and 9 pence was collected through donations.
A
'Manchester Paper' for Wednesday 28th July 1847, reported -
"On Friday
and Saturday last, the new Wesleyan Methodist Chapel at Summerseat,
Walmersley near Bury, was opened for divine service.... The collections on
Friday and Saturday amounted to upwards of £700, and subscriptions
amounting to upwards of £1,400 were presented making a total of £2,100.
The East Lancashire Railway provided special trains from Manchester, Bury
and Rawtenstall for parties wishing to attend the services, which were
attended by very numerous congregations".
The preacher was Jabez
Bunting, who was four times President of Conference and one of the most
influential and notable figures of Wesleyan Methodism in the 1800's.
The
account book records that the deficit of just over £2,000 was covered by a
further donation by John Robinson Kay.
On
the 30th of March 1851, as part of the church census, the minister Edmund
Oldfield, recorded that the congregation at the morning service consisted
of 192 adults and 200 Sunday school pupils. This represented about a third
of the population of the whole village of Summerseat.
The Methodist Church
Has always had a great influence in the village.
There
was also a Primitive Methodist Chapel in Summerseat, the original meetings
were held at 'Grandma Shaw's cottage in Hall Street', but by 1880 they
were meeting in the room over the Co-Operative stores in Railway Street.
Soon, land was bought next door, backing onto the river. The foundation
stones were laid on Saturday 14th May 1892, by Mr S Knowles, Mr J
Pollard and Mr R P Skelton.
Rising damp and flooding from the river remained a
constant problem. The Primitive Methodist Chapel in Railway Street closed
in 1955, and the congregation amalgamated with Rowlands.
Apart
from St. Wilfred's, a mission chapel which existed down at Brooksbottoms
for a time, (you can see more information about St Wilfred's Church on the
About Summerseat Page), there was no Anglican church in the village, this was due to
the influence of the Methodist mill owners.
In
the 1970's the church building at Rowlands was considered to be unsafe and
had to close. Rain water from blocked gutters penetrated the plaster work,
causing great lumps to fall off. The building was too big and expensive to
maintain for a dwindling congregation.
A trustees meeting was held on
September 12th 1974. A note in the minutes for the meeting reads:
"trustees noted that a large piece of plaster moulding had fallen
since the previous Sunday. Mr P Sutcliffe examined some wood which had
fallen with it and expressed an opinion that that section of roof, over
the entrance to the mausoleum was in a dangerously deteriorating
condition, and that consideration should be given to the dangers of using
the chapel until suitable inspection had been made and the roof pronounced
safe. This was discussed and it was agreed that this advice should be
followed - Chapel not to be used for gatherings of any kind until its
safety is assured".
Once
the building was empty with no heating on, the structure further
deteriorated, and sadly It
was in the February of 1978 that the church had to be demolished, due to severe damp, wood
rot and lack of funds to renovate the church.
The
congregation had continued to meet in the school hall.
From
the time the old church had been demolished, the parishioners started the mammoth
task of trying to raise funds to have a new church built at Rowlands.
It
took nearly three decades, but eventually the target of £400,000 that was
needed to have the new church built was reached, and Rowlands Methodist
Church was officially opened during the Whit Weekend of 2005.
The
Tottington public band led the parishioners on the Whit walk through the
village of Summerseat, to the new Rowlands Methodist Church, for a very
special songs
of praise service.
There was a full report of the event in the Bury Times
newspaper on the 10th June 2005.
Summerseat Wesleyan prize choir, 1st May 1920.
(This photo was kindly sent to me by Jen Grady)
We only know 1 person in the photo, front row 4th from left,
Emily Haworth (married Daniel Bamford). It would be great if we can
place more names of the people who are in the photo, so if you
happen to know any of the choir members,
then please
contact me.
Here is a cutting from the Bury Times, dated 8th May 2008, this
article is relating to the War Memorial at Rowland's Church.
_small.JPG)
The Present Minister of Rowlands Methodist Church is Rev Mark
Roper. Tel - 0161 764 4447
Please visit the Rowland's Graveyard page where I have added a
new section about the Old
Graveyard at Rowland's, together with over 90 photos of the
headstones which are in the old graveyard.
NOTICE
I have been in contact recently with somebody else who has an
interest in the old lower graveyard at Rowlands Methodist
Church, Summerseat, Lancashire, and he has setup
a "Friends of Rowlands Lower Graveyard, Summerseat,
Lancashire" email group which you can join by sending an email
to:
rowlands-subscribe@topica.com
If you have an interest in the old lower graveyard at
Rowlands, then I would ask that you join this group, more
information will be posted on this site shortly.
Rowlands Wesleyan Chapel
This is a site dedicated to Rowlands Wesleyan
Chapel at Summerseat.
The site has some lovely Photos, MI's, and
also a Plan of the lower graveyard, A Grave Index has also been
started. This site is well worth a visit.
Bury
Parish, Lancashire
Here
is a great site to visit with plenty of information.
The
aim is to provide information that may be useful to folks researching
their ancestors from the Bury area.
Well worth a
visit.
The following are listed on the Lancashire Online Parish
Clerks web site.
Burials at St Anne in the Parish of Tottington
The Register for Burials at St Anne 1799 - 1837 with
Surname Index
There are 1413 Burial Records extracted for this
Parish
Baptisms at St Anne in the Parish of Tottington
The Register for Baptisms at St Anne 1799 - 1812 with
Surname Index
The Register for Baptisms at St Anne 1813 - 1837 with
Surname Index
There are 5539 Baptism Records extracted for this
Parish
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