Rowlands Church

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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 know that the person on the front row 4th from left, is Emily Haworth (married Daniel Bamford). Then Ernest Heys is the man on the left (probably the conductor as he is carrying a baton). He was the Chief Designer at the mill, and was gifted musically - he retired to Torquay and was the organist at the church in his later life.

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 .

Here are a couple of cuttings from the Bury Times, dated 8th May 2008, and 31st July 2008.

 These articles relate to the War Memorial at Rowland's Church.

The Present Minister of Rowlands Methodist Church is  Rev Mark Roper.   Tel - 0161 764 4447 

Here is a piece that I have copied from The London Gazette Dated March 17th 1905

A Separate Building, duly certified for religious

worship, named PRIMITIVE METHODIST

CHAPEL, situated at Summerseat, in the civil parish of

Ramsbottom, in the county of Lancaster, in Bury registration

district, was on the ninth March, 1905, registered

for solemnizing marriages therein,

pursuant to 6th and 7th Wm. IV, c. 85.

Dated the fourteenth day of March, 1905.

029 JAMES ISHERWOOD, Superintendent Registrar.

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.

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.

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 

The BMD certificate Exchange Site is a free site to list BMD Certificates that you may have acquired in error,

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