SOWERBY:
Transcribed from
HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE CHURCH AT SOWERBY II
The following extracts are from a book found in Halifax library.
It is an exercise book with the following newspaper cuttings pasted
in and reading the text it sounds to have been written about 1879.
By Graptolite
The state of the roads in Sowerbyshire in 1639, was referred to in the last
chapter, and there is no doubt that the tops of these hills of which Sowerby
forms a spur, must have been almost devoid of anything like a good road,
the "breakneck" way over Blackstone Edge perhaps being the best. In the
"Memoirs of a Cavalier," supposed to have been written by De Foe, the
author refers to the district. Describing the escape of a number of the
Royalists, after the battle of Marston Moor into Lancashire, where they were
discovered, he says; "I took about eighty horse with me, among which were
all that I had of my own regiment, amounting to above 32, and took the hills
towards Yorkshire. Here we met with such unpassable hills, vast moors,
rocks and stony ways, as lamed all our horses, and tired our men; and
sometimes I was ready to think we should never be able to get over them,
till our horses failing, and jackboots being but indifferent thing to travel in,
we might be starved before we should find any road or towns, for guide we
had none, but a boy who knew but little, and would cry when we asked him
any questions. I believe neither men nor horses ever passed in some
places where we went and for twenty hours we saw not a town nor a house,
excepting sometimes from the top of the mountains, at a vast distance. I am
persuaded we might have encamped here, if we had had provisions till the
war had been over, and have met with no disturbance; and I have often
wondered since, how we got into such horrible places, as much as how we
got out. That which was worse to us than all the rest was, that we knew not
where we were going, nor what part of the country we should come into.
When we came out of these desolate crags. At last, after a terrible fatigue,
we began to see the western parts of Yorkshire, some few villages and the
country at a distance looked a little like England *** Halifax, they told us was
on our right; there we durst not think of going *** Manchester's horse, which
were sent after our party were then at Halifax in quest of us."
During Mr Morris's term of office a Sowerbyite suffered the rigours of the
Halifax Gibbet Law.
James Smyth, de Sowerby, was headed at Halyfax,
12th of February, 1574
Smyth was not the first, nor yet the last who thus paid the penalty for his
misdoings. The very first mentioned in the register books at Halifax is
Ricus Bentley, de Sowerby decollat 20 die Martii 1541.
Out of the forty nine who thus suffered the extreme penalty six are
mentioned as from Sowerby. The last two named were John Wilkinson and
Anthony Mitchell of Sowerby, who were convicted at Halifax of having on
Tuesday, the 19th of April 1650, feloniously taken from the tenters of Samuel
Colbeck, of Warley, 16 yards of russet coloured kersey. Abraham
Wilkinson and Anthony Mitchell were also charged with having taken off
from Durker-green, Sandal, two colts, on the 17th day of April 1650; and the
former with having feloniously taken off the tenters at Brearley Hall a whole
kersey piece. These two were sentenced "to suffer death by having their
heads severed and cut off from their bodies at Halifax Gibbet." And the
sentence was carried out on Saturday (being market day), April 30th, 1650.
It is said that this custom gave rise to the beggar's petition,
"From Hell, Hull, and Halifax, good Lord deliver us."
A former vicar of Sowerby, referring to this subject sys;- "There were gibbets
at Sheffield, Hull, and Halifax. Sheffield is the county of Hallam. There was
a city in the parish called Hallam, or Haellam, hence the saying from Haell,
the abbreviation for Hallam, or Hell." The times are changed since then,
and judging from the number of vagrants who periodically visit the
Workhouse "Halifax" must have been dropped out of the beggar's petition.
In 1583 Mr Adam Morris left Sowerby, going as chaplain to a regiment in
Ireland. He was buried at Halifax, September 24th 1591.
A stone coffin is said to have been found in the vestry, during some
alterations. There were no remains in it, and it was thought to have been
the coffin of one or the incumbents. If that were so it must have been one
who lived before Morris's time.
John Broadley was the next minister of Sowerby, and evidently he was a
noted divine. It was during his ministry that the old chapel became too
small and dilapidated for the accommodation of the people, and it was
decided to rebuild and enlarge it. The contract for the woodwork was let to
a Warley carpenter called Shepherd. What the cost of this work was cannot
be stated, but on the day the contract was signed - the 25th of May, 1622 -
an agreement was come to that the three quarters into which the township
was divided - Blackwood, Sowerby, and Westfield, should be taxed £40
each. A curious story is related to Mr Broadley, It is said the while the
chapel was building he preached thirteen Sundays on a dial stone in the
chapel yard, without so much as a shower of rain to disturb him. This is
rather different from a story told of Sowerby Bridge. On arriving at the
railway station, a passenger asked a rustic what place was that to which the
reply was given, "Put yo'r hand out, and if it rains it's Sorby Brigg." The
Rev. J. Broadley married the daughter of Henry Priestley, of Good Greave,
in Soyland, who was then the owner of that place. Mr Broadley died in
1625, on the 14th of February, and his wife only surved him 16 days. In the
register at the Halifax Parish Church he is called Pastor dignissimus, or
most worthy pastor. There is in the Parish Church, on a brass plate in the
wall on the south side, the following inscription:-
"Mr Jo Broadley, late Minister at Sowerby Chapp., died Feb. 14, 1625, and
Mary, his wife, also died March the 2nd, 1625, and here lie buried.
Here lies interr'd a zealous grave Divine,
Meek, loving, lov'd, only with sin at strife:
Who heard him saw life in his doctrine shine,
Who saw him, heard sound doctrine in his life;
And in the same cold bed here rests his Wife.
Nor are they dead, but sleep; for he ne'er dies
That waits for his sweet Saviour's word, Arise."
Amongst other papers and antiquarian lore collected by the late William
Priestley, Esq., of Thorp Arch, and which afterward came into the
possession of John Rawson, Esq., of Brockwell, was a poetical lament on
the death of Mr Broadley, probably written soon after his death, and
perhaps by one of the Priestley family, though no name is given. The
poem, in three parts, was published in the Sowerby Magazine, edited by the
Rev. A L W Bean, in 1861. This quaint poetical effusion is too long for
reproduction in a newspaper. It commences;-
O! sinful Sowerby! Sorrow now,
They joyful days are done:
The time of trouble doth ensue,
Thy faithful friend is gone.
The preacher is delineated as a faithful pastor who published the Word in
plainness and power. Though he did not parade his learning by using " a
language strange of Hebrew, Greek, or Latin," yet by his excellent
knowledge he was enabled to rightly divide the word of truth. His preaching
and practice agreed. For 33 years he ministered to the people of Sowerby,
and his presence was marked by gravity and grace. He denounced the
superstitions of the Church of Rome, and was diligent in all his duties. In
addition to preaching twice a Sunday, he had a short service spent in
exposition.
During Mr Broadley's life, both the poor and the Church were remembered
in the wills of several Sowerby people. In 1616, John Fourness left two
cottages in Sowerby for the use of three poor men of Sowerby for ever. He
also surrendered a messuage, garden, and four closes of land for the use of
John Broadley, clerk, master of arts, and afterwards to the use of such
persons as shall be masters of arts and a preacher at the chapel at
Sowerby. If there happened to come a time when the preacher was not a
master of arts, the money was to go to the heirs of Richard Brigg. Thomas
Mitchell, of Sowerby, left £20 to be invested for the benefit of Mr Broadley
and future preachers at Sowerby chapel, he also stipulating that the
preacher must be a master of arts. A piece of ground was bought beneath
Sowerby for the purpose mentioned. Thomas Mitchell also left £10 in trust
to be lent to three poor handicrafts men in Blackwood quarter, Sowerby,
without interest, but with security. By the will of Henry Haigh, of Sowerby,
dated July 13th, 1634, 30.1/2 acres of land was left for the benefit of the
"Preacher of God's Word for the time being at the chapel of Sowerby
aforesaid, being a master of arts," and preaching one sermon upon every
second Wednesday in May, June, July, and August, the preacher to get 6s.
8d. for each sermon. Thus the benefits have been insured to the
inhabitants of Sowerby of having a minister who had received a university
education.
Soon after the death of Broadley, a fruitless attempt was made to have the
chapel endowed with parochial rights. The vicar of Halifax at the time was
the Rev. Robert Clay, D. D. For some time afterwards the pulpit was
occupied by strangers, as the verses of the above ancient bard of Sowerby
seem to indicate.
In 1635, Nathaniel Rathband, M. A., was the minister. Watson says that the
endowment of Henry Haigh, amounting to 26s. 8d. yearly, was withheld
from Nathaniel Rathband for three years, notwithstanding the fact that he
was a Master of Arts. Brearcliffe's MS. Says the money was detained in
1651, by Samuel Foxcroft. However, this curate of Sowerby petitioned the
Lord Keeper, Lord Littleton.
In 1643, the first interments are recorded in the register books, and yet
Watson says that nothing was done till 1678. In a letter written by Dr. Hook,
vicar of Halifax to clear himself from being a traditor of the church's rights,
he says -
The inhabitants of Sowerby shall have liberty to bury their dead in the
chapel, or chapel yard there, reserving for every burial the accustomed due
of one penny to the vicar of Halifax, and to the clerk of Halifax twopence;
and also to baptise their infants, reserving to the said vicar for each infant
five pennies, and to the clerk at Halifax one penny; that no publication of
marriage be but in Halifax church, nor any marriage of any inhabitant of
Sowerby but in the said church; that the dues arising from Sowerby should
be paid to the vicar quarterly, and that the churchwardens of Sowerby
should attend, as formerly, the monthly meetings at Halifax, and contribute
as before to all church dues.
Thus, when Sowerby obtained these rights, the fees were ordered to be
paid to the Vicar of Halifax, although the poor Curate of Sowerby did the
work. The consent of Dr Hooke, dated October 8th, 1678, shows that the
inhabitants of Sowerby petitioned the Archbishop of York mentioning "the
great inconvenience and danger of bringing their dead to be buried and
their infants to be baptised, unto Halifax, the Chapelry of Sowerby being
three miles distant, and the grater part of the people living four or five miles
from Halifax, and the way mountainous and uneasy," and very having
obtained liberty from his Grace to bury their dead and baptise their children
at Sowerby chapel. Dr Hooke gave his consent, on condition that the
inhabitants of Sowerby should continue to pay, as they had done formerly,
"all rights, dues, and customs to the Vicar and Church of Halifax, without
diminution." A close of land next to the Vicarage (the Vicarage was then the
building adjoining to where Mr Saltonstall, the sexton, at present lives) was
purchased by the inhabitants of Sowerby. This close was purchased of
Nicholas Elberke, of Halifax, in 1668 for £31. The only explanation as to
the Sowerby register of burials in 1643, is that the interments took place at
Halifax. The first entries are as follows:-
BURIALS, 1643
| July 6 | Mary wife of Samuell Hoyle, Milne bank buryed | |
| November | John Hoyle in Sourby towne | |
| January | James Hyhley of Hyley | |
| | John Wood, old John Wood in Sourby |
| | Grace the wife of John Wood |
In 1648, thirty burials are entered, and very likely these would be members
of the most influential families in Sowerby.
[To Be Continued]
Data transcribed from:
A book in the Halifax library.
by Graptolite
Sue Johnson ©2001
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