A Short History of Gorton Chapel.
© D.Nolan/D.Ratcliffe/Gorton Local History Group.
THIS year, 1903, the members of Brookfield Church, Gorton, are celebrating the bicentenary of the opening for public worship of the Old Chapel, known as Gorton Chapel, in the year 1703. Whether this date be exactly correct we will not stop here to inquire, but it is at any rate as nearly correct as the facts now in our possession enable us to arrive at.
In those days Gorton was a village, with a small population, distant about three miles from Manchester. The inhabitants, as far as we can gather, were engaged in hat making and in hand-loom weaving. The stream, now known as the Gore Brook, would then present a very different appearance from what it does now. Its waters were stocked with fish, which drew the patient angler to its banks to while away a lazy hour of an evening. In a large house not far from the river lived the Lord of the Manor, or Squire, and round about were the cottage homes of the people. There was then no well-made Hyde Road as there is now; there would be no schools, as at present, except the dame's school. The education then given would be mostly given on the Sunday. The only place of worship for years previous to 1700, to which the people would resort, was the Parish Church, known as Gorton Chapel, then under the protection of the College authorities at Manchester, corresponding to the Cathedral Chapter now. But in that time of religious turmoil there were a few people in the village who were dissatisfied with the tenets of the State Church, and who openly dissented from its teachings. They would not attend the Parish Church, but they met secretly for worship in the upper room of a house near the top of Cross Lane, just where it joins Abbey Hey Lane today. We may rest assured that these Dissenters would not long remain content with their temporary meeting-place, and hence we find that about the year 1703 a Dissenting Chapel was built and opened for worship in what was known as Gorton Vale. This building was the Old Chapel in which our forefathers met to worship God Sunday after Sunday, and the opening of which we are commemorating this year.
Who its first minister was we know, but we do not know in what year exactly he began his ministry. There were, however, ministers in the village holding dissenting views previous to him. Such were the following: John Wigan, who was an Independent, as Cromwell was. The Presbyterians, who were the other section of the Dissenters, were very ill-disposed towards him, and had great trouble with him. He gave up preaching, and became Major John Wigan, of the Parliamentary Army. He was minister at Gorton until 1646, when he left for Birch. Adam Martindale, who came to reside in Openshaw in this year, left the ministry at Gorton in 1648 to go to Rostherne, in Cheshire. The Independents were growing in number and influence in Gorton, and it was from the Independents, not the Presbyterians, that the congregation of the Old Chapel was formed. Principal Gordon points out that there were in Lancashire in 1647 some Congregationals, as at Gorton and Birch. Martindale was for some years an itinerant preacher. He spent his last days at Leigh, and was buried at Rostherne on September 21st, 1686. His autobiography is a work of considerable interest and value. David Dury settled at Gorton' in 1648, and remained as minister until August, 1650. The three succeeding ministries were short, viz., those of Thomas Norman, Zachariah Taylor, and Robert Seddon, M.A. Of the latter we may note that he lived with the Rev. John Angier's family at Denton before he, settled at Gorton, where he was ordained on June 14th, 1654. He remained here until April, 1656. Of the next minister, Rev. William Leigh, M.A., much more is known. He began his ministry on November 11th, 1656. He was one of the 67 ministers in Lancashire who were ejected from the Church by the Act of Uniformity which came into force on August 24th, 1662 (St. Bartholomew's day). He died in 1666, about 50 years of age, and was buried on January 11th, 1666, at Denton Chapel (Th' Owd Peg) by his friend, -the Rev. John Angier. The Rev. John Jollie, who succeeded Leigh, was the son of Major Jollie, the Provost-Marshal of the Parliamentary Army. He shared with John Angier the duties of the Denton Chapel after the Act of Uniformity came into force. He ministered occasionally at Gorton after 1669, and resided at Gorton until his death, June 17th, 1682. He was buried at Oldham. The Rev. Henry Newcome, M.A., first minister of Cross Street Chapel, preached his funeral sermon. The name of Jollie is one that plays an important part in the history of our old Chapels. And it is also worthy of note that the Rev. Samuel Angier, nephew of John Angier, of Denton, became minister of Dukinfield Old Chapel, and his remains lie there in the Chapel yard; and further, Samuel Angier's daughter, Ann, married the Rev. John Cooper, the first minister of Hyde Chapel, Gee Cross (1710-1730), in which latter year he died.
Mr. Jollie was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Dickenson, who received his education at Rathmell Academy, under the Rev. Richard Frankland, M.A. This Academy was the forerunner of the present Manchester College, Oxford. He was ordained at Stand on May 24th, 1694. He remained at Gorton until 1702, when he removed to Northowram, near Halifax-, as successor to the celebrated Nonconformist, Oliver Heywood. Here he ministered until his death, December 26th, 1743. From his tombstone at Northowram we gather that he was born in 1669. A memoir of him was written by the Rev. Thomas Jollie. It is not known who was the minister at Gorton from 1702 to 1704, after Mr. Dickenson's retirement. The first occupant of the pulpit of the Old Chapel, of whom we have any knowledge, is the Rev. Nehemiah Reyner, who married Mrs. Jane Eaton on November 12th, 1712..
All we can say is
that he began his ministry here probably about the year 1707. From Gorton he
removed to Cross Street Chapel in 1731, and laboured there as late as
1740. It is interesting to note here that among others who preached at Gorton
towards the close of the 17th century was Oliver Heywood. Being one of the
ejected ministers of 1662 he preached at the
house of Mr.Hulton,
of Droylsden, on January 6th, 1667. We now come to the ministry of,
the Rev. Samuel Hanson, whose remains lie in the Old Chapel yard, on the
south-west side of the spot where the Old Chapel stood. On his tombstone it is
stated that he was born at Wyke, in the parish of Birstall and county of York.
He died " November 28th, 1763, in the 71st year of his age, after having
been Pastor of this Church upwards of thirty-one years." He commenced his
ministry at Gorton, therefore, in 1732, as we gather also from the Register now
in our possession, and probably in the month of July, for we know from the
Register that the first baptism during his ministry was solemnized on July 16th,
1732. He was born in 1692. His wife was Mary, daughter of Mr. Richard Foster, of
Ossett (where he had been minister for several years before coming to Gorton, in
his 40th year), in the county of York. She died
August 24th, 1760, in the 67th year of her age, so that she was born in 1693.
When she married Mr. Reyner she was a widow, a Mrs. Mary Jepson, and
sister-in-law of the Rev. Thomas Dickenson, her husband's predecessor at Gorton.
Mr. Hanson was the grandfather of Colonel Hanson, who obtained so much notoriety
when great meetings of the Manchester weavers were held at St.
George's-in-the-fields, on May 24th and 25th, 1808.
A period of two years intervened after the death of Mr. Hanson before his successor, the Rev. John Atchison, was appointed in 1765. He was born at Everdon, in Northamptonshire, March, 1743, studied at Daventry, left Gorton for Leicester (after having married a rich lady), where he kept a school and occasionally preached, and died at Leicester on February 9th, 1813. He was minister here until 1788. His mother died at Gorton, March 9th, 1785, and her remains alone lie in the grave in the Old Chapel yard. On her tombstone it is stated that she was " the relict of David Atchison, born December, 1709, married May 4th, 1737, and died March 9th, 1785, in the 76 year of her age." The last baptism solemnized by Mr. Atchison was on May 3rd, 1788. To this entry is appended the following note: " The Registers of Christenings and Burials, from and after the first day of October, 1785, became subject to a Stamp Duty of Three Pence for each entry, which Duty (having taken a Licence according to the Act of Parliament for that purpose) has been duly collected (according to the following Register entries) by me, John Atchison.”
The present parsonage, where these notes are written, was built during the ministry of Mr. Atchison in 1744 ("mainly at the expense of the Grimshaw family." The Rev. William Dodge Cooper, nephew of the Rev. Bristowe Cooper, of Gee Cross, was born in 1759, educated at Hoxton Academy, settled at Stand at the age of 22, where he ministered from 1781 to 1788, accepted an invitation to Gorton in the latter year in a letter addressed to Mr. Robert Grimshaw, and laboured here for 13 years until his death on June 9th, 1801. His grand-niece, Mrs. Thomas Cocks, of Church Lane, Gorton, is still living, and the name of Bristowe Cooper is still kept in the family by her son and grandson. Mrs. Cocks's maiden name was Margaret Cooper. The tomb, in which lie the remains of William Dodge Cooper and his wife Betty, was "erected by a few friends who, although not allied to him in blood, revere his virtues and regret his death.
He was succeeded in the ministry here by the Rev. Joseph Ramsbotham, who came from Fulwood, where he was minister from 1798 to 1802. He was " Minister of the Protestant Chapel, Gorton, for three years and nine months, was buried by the Rev. Dokter Barnes, 18th March, 1806." He died March 15th, 1806, aged 26 years. . . . Dr. Barnes, who officiated at his funeral, was the minister of Cross Street Chapel and Tutor at the Manchester College, the fore-runner of the one now at Oxford. In the same grave with his lie the remains of his brother-in-law, William Basnett Townsend, .who died June 24th, 1804, aged 20 years. " In Life they loved and in Death they are now for ever united."
The Rev. Joseph Jeffries, after a ministry at Topsham, in Devonshire, and Ringwood, in Hampshire, began his ministry at Gorton in April, 1807. He signs his name after a baptism on April 19th, 1807, and last officiated at a baptism on May 13th, 1827. He died at the Isle of Man in the summer of 1829, having been prohibited from preaching during the last two years of his life owing to mental infirmity. The Rev. Charles Danvers Hort entered upon his ministry here in September, 1829. He was the son of the Rev. Gillard Hort, minister of Frenchay, near Bristol, 1804-1815, and afterwards pastor to a large congregation in Cork. Danvers Hort was born in Bristol in 1807, educated at Belfast and Manchester College, York, and left Gorton after a ministry of seven years in 1837. His last signature in the Register bears date March 24th, 1836. After that date until May 30th of the same year appears the name of his father. He died at St. Patrick's Hospital, Dublin, after having been an inmate of that institution 27 years. He would then be 60 years old. I learn that he taught classics at an Academy in Chorlton-on-Medlock, and that the revered Rev. S. Alfred Steinthal was one of his pupils at this academy. In 1837 the Rev. George Henry Wells, M.A., began his long and valued ministry at Gorton. He was born at Warrington in 1811 ; educated at Glasgow University, where he graduated, and at Manchester College, York; was minister for a short time at Irvington ; and laboured at Gorton from February, 1837, until the end of June, 1881 He was minister at the Old Chapel for 34 years, until its abandonment in 1871, when it was replaced by the present beautiful Brookfield Church, which was erected at the expense of the late Richard Peacock, Esq., M.P. for Gorton, as a token of thanksgiving to Almighty God for the recovery of a beloved daughter from a serious illness. Mr. Wells ministered at the new Church for ten years, after which he retired from the ministry to spend the remainder of his days at Bowdon, where he died July 17th, 1888. His remains lie in the Old Chapel yard, where also lie the remains of a twin son, Robert, who died July 31st, 1865, aged six months. Mrs. Wells, nee Miss Wood, of Rochdale, is still living at Bowdon, and the surviving twin son, Mr. Joseph W. Wells, in the vicinity of Stockport. A tablet was placed by Mrs. Wells in the chancel of the present Church in memory of her husband, and a baptismal font was placed in the west end of the Church by the congregation in memory of Mr. Wells and Mr. Peacock. We have further to add that during the ministry of Mr. Wells the Sunday School, which was replaced by the present new school in 1900, was erected, and was opened in 1863. The first baptism solemnized by Mr. Wells was that of our respected Trustee, Mr. Joseph Stanfield Grimshaw.
The Rev. Dendy Agate, B.A., was minister of Brookfield Church up till 1893, and the Rev. George Evans, M.A., was appointed his successor in the following year. Mr. Wells was the last minister of the Old Chapel.
We now come to deal briefly with the Clerks or Sextons of Gorton Dissenting Chapel. The first was James Entwisle, 57 years clack (sic!) of this Chapel, who died September 11th, 1766, aged 80 years and upwards. He must therefore have commenced his duties in 1709, not long after the opening of the Chapel for worship. (2) Benjamin Aveyard succeeded Entwisle immediately; and, as Higson, in his " Gorton Historical Recorder," states, was " sexton of the Nonconformist Chapel for 19 years," i.e., from 1766 to 1785. He died August 25th, 1785. There is no intimation on his tombstone, as there is in the case of Entwisle, that he was clerk of the Chapel. (3) George Aveyard, who died October 27th, 1814, aged 75 years, was clerk 29 years, from 1785 to 1814. (4) George Aveyard, who died June 3rd, 1863, aged 77 years, was clerk for 49 years, i.e., from 1814 to 1863. (5) Joseph Jones, father of Mr. James Jones, landlord of the Lord Nelson Inn, died April 1st, 1877, aged 61 years, clerk for 14 years. Of these 14 years he served as clerk of Brookfield Church for six years.
All the clerks from 1709 to 1877, five in number, lie buried in the Old Chapel yard. It is worthy 'of note that the service of the three Aveyards lasted the long period of 97 years. Members of both the Aveyard and Jones families are still associated with our Church.
The Old Chapel was built mainly at the expense of Thomas Oldham, of Sandfold, Reddish. The inscription on his gravestone reads: " Here resteth the body of Thomas Oldham, borne in Reditch, and buried here the 7th day of August, 1710, in the 62: year of his age.
"Here lye the ashes of a pious mind, Plain, charitable, from all fraud refin'd, He many temples built to th' King of kings,
And now in glorious bliss his praises sings."
He was, therefore, born in 1648, the year before the beheadal of Charles I. It is said of him that " he. was the liberal endower and one of the founders of the Non-conformist place of worship."
The old horsing-stone, which stood opposite the entrance to the Chapel for the convenience of worshippers who came from a distance on horseback, now stands near the Lodge-gate, and bears inscribed on it the date 1703.
It now remains for me to write very briefly about the families who worshipped in the Chapel. The association of the Grimshaw family with it goes back a, long way. -The first of the name, mentioned on the tombstone, is Mr. James Grimshaw, of Audenshaw, who died February 11th, 1772, aged 77 years, so that he would be about eight or nine years old when the Chapel was opened. The family seem to have been worshippers at Gorton during the whole period of the existence of the Old Chapel. The sole surviving member of the family is our honoured Trustee, Mr. Joseph Stanfield Grimshaw, who was baptized by Mr. Wells on December 10th, 1836. On a tablet. placed to the memory of several members of the family on the south wall of the present Church it is recorded that " they worshipped in this Chapel, and munificently added to its endowment." The tablet was removed from the Old Chapel to the present Church during its erection.
At one time in the 18th century most of the members of the congregation bore the name of Shawcross. There still remain connected with us two families bearing that name. The two sisters, the Misses Shawcross, of South Reddish, have from their childhood been worshippers at the Chapel. Their ancestors at one time resided at Gorton Hall, which afterwards became the residence of Mr. Richard Peacock. The ancestors of the late John Shawcross, of " The Plough Inn," were for a long time worshippers at the Old Chapel, and we now have members of his family connected with us.
. The name Ryder, probably for Rider, is the first that
appears in the old Register now in the Vestry safe. William Ryder, son of
Samuel Ryder, of Gorton, was baptized by Mr. Hanson on July 16th, 1732, the year
when he began his ministry. Thomas Rider, of Leavenshulme (sic!), died April
7th, 1774, in the 80th year
of his age, and this is the first bearing the name of Rider whose grave I find
in the yard. In the centre of the yard is a monument erected by friends
and admirers to the memory of James Rider, father of the present secretary to
the trustees of Brookfield Church, who died October 20th 1872 aged
71 years.
Among other honoured worshippers in the Old Chapel, I find the names of Mr. Thomas Clay, father of the late Alderman George Clay and Mr. Robert Clay, who built the school of 1863; Worthington, Dixon, Withington, Richard Peacock, through whose munificence the present Church was built, and others whose names have already been mentioned in, this brief history.
On the west side of the graveyard lie the remains of John Ashton, the first organist at this Chapel, who died September 22nd, 1833, aged 26 years. Nieces of his are still living in Gorton. And I conclude this history with an interesting inscription on the gravestone of Elizabeth Withington, wife of S. Withington, who died April 9th, 1819, aged 57 years:-
Here rests a woman, good without pretence, Blest with plain reason and with sober sense So unaffected, so composed a mind,
So firm yet soft, so strong yet so refin'd. Heaven has its finest gold by tortures try'd, The saint sustained it: but the woman dy'd.
Gorton, October 17th ,1903
W. K Woodhouse, 103, Chapman Street, Gorton
Photographs of gravestones of some of the above mentioned people that were associated with the Old Chapel.
The gravestone of Thomas Clay, and Alderman George Clay.
The gravestone of Benjamin Aveyard.
The gravestone of Thomas Oldham.
The gravestone of Rev. Joseph Ramsbotham and William Basnett Townsend.
The gravestone of George Worthington.