SOWERBY:
Transcribed from
HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE CHURCH AT SOWERBY - X
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
Sowerby Church having been erected, an attempt was made to obtain
parochial rights and privileges for the new church, and at the same time to
throw off all responsibility and surrender all rights, in connections with the
Halifax Parish Church. A correspondence was opened with the Archbishop
of York, and the scheme promoted by Sowerby was as strenuously opposed
by Halifax. The following curious letters throw some light on these times,
and show that the relations of some of the out-townships with the Parish
Church at Halifax are not of the most friendly character;-
Sowerby the 18th November, 1763.
"May it please your Grace, "We beg leave to return you, our humble thanks
for the favors receiv'd at Brodsworth; and as then directed, to lay before
your Grace the following reasons for making our township into a distinct
parish.
"1
Our Parish Church is not large enough to contain the parishioners to
whom it belongs; and being distant three miles from the nearest part
of Sowerby, and above seven miles for the farthest part thereof, is
therefore not only very inconvenient for the inhabitants, but all
publications of banns of marriage, being at the Parish Church, the
intention of the act for preventing clandestine marriages is not
answered; as the inhabitants of our own township do not resort thither
to divine service.
"II
Our township is from east to west, viz. From Sowerby Bridge (where
the Calder Navigation is to end) to the upper part of Blackwood,
above four miles; and from north to south viz. from Mytholmroyd
Bridge to Soyland Mills Bridge, above three miles, has all its own
parish officers; make all assessments within itself, distinct from the
other townships of the parish; and is computed to contain above five
thousand inhabitants, who carry on a great trade in different kinds of
woollen goods, whereby the number of inhabitants has of late years
very much increased, and is still likely to increase more and more
every year.
"III
By reason of which increase our chapel formerly built became too
small, and our cemetery also not large enough for burying of the
dead. We have therefore provided ground to enlarge the cemetery;
and have thereon (as being a more convenient situation) built solely
at the expense of our own inhabitants and landowners, and are now
finishing, a sufficiently large and commodious church, computed with
the pews, to cost above two thousand pounds; towards raising
whereof we have not, nor do we intend to trouble the country with a
brief.
"IV
Having thus built our selves a commodious church, we are very
desirous to have it made parochial by act of parliament; and are
willing to give up to the town of Halifax all our rights in our old Parish
Church; which rights are only about forty shillings a year short of our
usual quota towards the repairs of the said Parish Church. And
should your Grace think us deserving of a Parish Church of our own
we very humbly submit it whether our paying any thing besides giving
up our rights to the inhabitants of Halifax, wou'd not be laying a
burden upon us, to ease them at the same time that their church lay
scarce amounts to one peny halfpeny in the pound.
"V
In order to make the living also distinct, we hope to obtain (as in other
acts of Parliament) the Easter dues (which we suppose are about £30
a year as an augmentation, which with the lands now belonging the
curacy will make £105 a year; and as we make so large a settlement
upon the church, we farther hope with the assistance your Grace
kindly offered us, to obtain as much from the governors of the bounty,
as will make it £120 a year.
"VI
Being sensible (from what has happen'd in other places) of the
confusion and disorder that may arise on every vacancy of a minister
when the election is in the inhabitants; we never proposed having the
patronage of our Church vested in our selves; but intending to pursue
the plan of the acts for the 50 churches, and various others enacted
for the service of populous trading places like ours; such as Bethnal
Green, and St Philip and Jacob in Bristol. We had thoughts of having
our living after a vacancy, under the same patronage as Halifax; but
as hinted at Brodsworth , we should think ourselves peculiarly happy
under the patronage of your Grace, and you successors Archbishops
of York; as we should thereby have the strongest assurances and
confidence that we and our posterity should always be supplied with
able and discreet ministers, worthy of the maintenance we intend to
secure to them.
"VII
We have in our township great numbers of sectarists of different
denominations, who are rather moved to dissent from the Church by
reason their own meeting houses have full as many privileges as our
own chapel., but if parochial privileges were granted to us they would
be strong motives to conformity to the Established Church.
"If my Lord, these improvements meet with your approbation, and you
should advise us to lay our petition before parliament; we have yet
another very important improvement of a different nature, which we
desire to have included in the act, and which we therefore, thinking it
our duty to mention. - We have, my Lord, in our township some waste
barren moors, of little, or no benefit to us in their present state. But
as lands are much wanted, if power was obtained to improve them;
they would not only make room for an additional number of useful
hands for the manufactory, but also produce some necessaries
towards their subsistence, and be of public utility. These my Lord are
the improvements which an industrious people earnestly wish to be
enabled to make, and in or ler thereto humbly crave your Grace's
advice and assistance. We are, My Lord,
"Your Grace's most dutiful and most obliged servants.
JOHN WELSH, Curate of Sowerby
on behalf of the inhabitants}
GEORGE STANSFELD
JOHN PRIESTLY
"P.S. We have taken the liberty to send your Grace under two covers, the
act for dividing the parish of St Philip and Jacob in Bristol - We have also
the acts for the 50 churches and various others, which we shall also send
up, if your Grace pleases to permit us. In all these acts the new parishes
are exempted from all charges and impositions to the old church, and the
dues go to the new rector of vicar."
Probably a copy of this letter was ordered by the Archbishop to be sent to
the vicar and churchwardens at Halifax, for their remarks thereon. The
following answer was returned by Halifax;
Halifax, Jan. 17, 1764
"1
The Parish Church may not be large enough to contain all the
parishioners to whom it belongs, which is probably one reason (tho'
not the principal one) why so many chapels of ease have been
erected in the parish; but it is large enough to contain those who
usually resort to it, and the inhabitants of Sowerby besides, shou'd
they chuse to come to it, and may be still much more enlarged. They
are constant attendants at Halifax markets weekly; and being in
general within three or four miles of the church (the chapel of
Sowerby being within three miles of the said church, and within about
half a mile of another chapel, in the said parish; which other is within
about two miles of the said church, and within about half a mile of
another chapel, in the said parish; which other is within about two
miles and a half of the said Parish Church, in a good turnpike road)
can be in no danger of suffering any inconveniences from clandestine
marriages; the intention of the late act is as well answer'd here, as in
any large parish, and banns of marriage having never been published
in Sowerby chapel previous to the making that law, they are not put
into any worse situation by it. We humbly submit it to your Grace
whether that law was ever intended as a foundation for the division of
parishes.
"II
Sowerby has not all its parish officers, neither does it make all
assessments within itself; for it is connected with Soyland within the
parochial chapelry of Eland, as to the constable tax; and is divided
into four quarters or districts, viz. Sowerby, Blackwood, Westfield and
Soyland, and has commonly been call'd Sowerby cum Soyland,
Soyland having been reckon'd equal in value to any of the other three
quarters or districts which are now all call'd Sowerby and has been
assess'd accordingly; but great disputes have of late arise between
the inhabitants of the districts, as to the particular value of each; and
the method of assessing , much like those now on the carpet between
Halifax and Sowerby. They have greatly mistaken the number of their
inhabitants; for computing five to a family which we apprehend to be
the common method of calculation in a case of this sort (tho'; in this
particular case above the truth) they do not appear according to the
vicar's list (which may be depended on, being yearly regulated with
great exactness to be more than 2700, and if the lists deliver'd in on
rising the militia are to be regarded (and surely they shou'd, for they
are deliver'd in upon oath) and a calculation is to be made from them;
the inhabitants of Sowerby including those of Soyland, which is part of
their constablry; and which contains about 1300 inhabitants don't
amount to two thirds of the number they have stated
"III
The walls of the old chapel were extremely good, and the chapel was
itself sufficiently large and commodious and more than capable in the
state it then was, without adding an additional gallery, of containing
all the inhabitants of the township, nay it was even capable of holding
more than the new one in its present state; and as to what is said as
to the cemetery being too small, is not founded on fact, for there was
fresh ground sufficient to bury numbers in many parts of it, even
immediately after the greatest mortality ever remembered in the
neighbourhood, which happen'd just before they pull'd down their
chapel. But supposing the cemetery had been too little, it might have
been enlarged very conveniently without erecting a new chapel ln
new ground; which they say is a more convenient situation but in that
we beg leave to differ from them, unless by convenient they mean
ostentatious only.
"IV
They say their rights in the Parish Church are only about 40s. a year
short of their usual quota towards the repairs of it. But to bring them
so near upon a ballance they have made use of various evasive
methods; one of these evasions being that of refusing by their warden
to consent to so much money being laid out in repairing the church,
as has been necessary or the proper immediate support of the
fabrick, over and above its other necessaries in repairs, &c, arising
from neglects (those neglects arising from the perverseness of
Sowerby, and of some of the other tributary unparochial townships)
which other necessaries amount to one thousand pounds, as the very
man at the head of these proposals to your Grace has acknowledged.
Another of their said evasions being that of their making at every
year's end unusual and arbitrary deductions from the accounts of
what has been laid out; By means of which deductions the quota of
Halifax is much increased, at the same time that the church is every
year in worse repair than before, and the inhabitants of Halifax have
for peace sake, and to avoid law suits, for several years last,
submitted to reimburse their own wardens the sum of such
unreasonable deductions, rather than they shou'd lose the money,
which has in fact been giving up so much to Sowerby, and may
probably have induced them, to expect the further gratuity they now
seem to have in view; But even after all these unfair deductions, their
rights in the church are above 40s. a year short of the quota they now
pay; and they must have acknowledged them to be far more than 40s.
short, had they not in their calculation supplied the offertory money
they receive from the wardens of Halifax, not obligatorily but
gratuitously, in part of payment; which we are well assured your
Grace will think a very improper disposal of it. And tho' the church lay
in Halifax may not be quite so high as the church lay in Sowerby, yet
their ancestors paid their quota to the repairs of Halifax church,
without making any deductions; well knowing they had purchased
their estates subject to the payment of the church lay; and that it
wou'd be iniquitous to withhold what they had had an adequate
allowance for, in making those purchases.
"V
The Easter dues arising in their township don't amount to so much by
nearly one third, as they have stated; and several of the principal
inhabitants who have been made acquainted with the scheme, and
who 'till they heard of it at Halifax, were totally ignorant of it
notwithstanding Mrs Stansfeld and Mr Priestly have sign'd the letter to
your Grace on behalf of the inhabitants, and who utterly condemn the
said letter and declare they are so far from being willing to charge
their estates with £30 per annum, or any other sum for the purpose
mention'd in the said letter, that they are determin'd never to consent
to it.
"VI
With respect to the patronage, we can only say it is not in their
disposal; and if it was, from the knowledge we have of the people we
conclude they wou'd not be happy in having it vested in themselves.
And whether the Vicar of Halifax for the time being, be not more likely
to supply them with able and discreet ministers, and such as are
suitable to their dispositions and the place (as having them more
immediately under his eye) than the most worthy and prudent patron
at a distance (unacquainted with them and the place, can be
supposed to be; we beg leave to submit it to your Grace's superior
judgment being well assured, that the hint given by them of their
peculiar happiness under your Grace's patronage, will have no
influence with you Grace in the determination of a matter so important
to your people and their posterity.
"VII
We grant there are many sectarists in their township; and so there are
in most trading places in this part of the country; far more in
proportion in many places than in Sowerby, but it can never be
believed that they dissented from the Established Church because
their meeting houses had more (which we suppose to be the meaning
of full as many) privileges than the late chapel at Sowerby; for it is
very evident it is more expensive to be a sectarist there, than to resort
to the Establish'd Church.
"VIII
The inclosure of some of the commons and waste ground within
Sowerby, to be annexed to the chapel, wou'd no doubt be a great
improvement, and what the inhabitants may reasonably desire; but
when it is consider'd, that by a law now in being they have a right to
inclose sixty acres of their commons or wastes or a sixth part not
exceeding that quantity, with the consent of the lord of the manor, and
three parts in four of the freeholders, and others having right of
common therein according to their number and the value of their
respective estates, and to vest it in trustees for the benefit of their
Minster pursuant to the statue of the 12 of Queen Ann, stat. 1 c 4. It
is hoped no new law will be thought immediately necessary for such
purpose; nor wou'd any act of parliament for a further inclosure be
wanted for many generations, if ever, for such sixty acres (even taking
the best of their commons) cou'd not be properly cultivated in a great
number of years, and when cultivated would be so valuable that the
curacy of Sowerby being at present about seventy pounds per annum,
would stand in no need of further augmentation; And if the money
which would be expended in an application to parliament shou'd your
Grace advise 'em to prefer their petition (which we hope will never be
the case) was frugally laid out in inclosing and cultivating their
commons pursuant to the above statute, we humbly submit it to your
Grace, whether it would not be a more eligible disposal of it as it
wou'd tend to the certain private advantage of them and their minister,
and to the good of the public in general; whereas an act of parliament
for the purpose they desire would not only impoverish the vicarage,
but tend to it's utter ruin without any real advantage to themselves.
For if they obtain any such act, all the other chapelries in the parish
(not to say every other chapelry in England, for no unparochial chapel
can be more dependent upon and have stronger connections with its
parish church that the unparochial chapel at Sowerby has with its
Parish Church at Halifax) may with equal propriety ask the like( some
have hinted that already) and as we may naturally conclude all of
them may intend it; and if the whole attempt succeeded in this manner
the mother church which is a very ancient, venerable, and cathedral
like structure whose ordinary wants require at least one hundred
pounds per ann, the burden of which is now divided among ten
townships to supply them; must in a few years be reduced to ruins; for
no tax in Halifax only, which wou'd have the least appearance of
reason, wou'd be sufficient to support it; neither wou'd the profits of
the vicarage maintain the Vicar and his family tho ever so frugal, and
keep the vicarage house and building upon the glebe in tenantable
repair.
"The hazard of future damages to the church by fire, tempest, and
other unforeseen accidents, as well as the repairs immediately
wanted, through the late designing neglects, may likewise deserve a
very serious consideration; before any innovation can be admitted
which would lessen the number of those persons who ought to
contribute their rated proportion towards making good such damage
and repairs; and wou'd increase the burden of those who are to be
charged with the expense of other people's shares as well as their
own, in the repairs and maintenance of such a large and costly
church, as that of Halifax.
"Add to this, that the first fruits and tenths of Halifax, paid by the
Vicar, are rated remarkably higher than livings of above thrice the
value of Halifax, this being charged in the king's books for first fruits
at eighty four pounds, thirteen shillings and six pence halfpenny, and
for tenths, eight pounds nine shillings and ten pence farthing."
TO BE CONTINUED
Unfortunately this is where the cuttings end, if I can find the continuation on
Sowerby in the Halifax Guardian Archives, I will post it at a later date
Data transcribed from:
A book in the Halifax library.
by Graptolite
Sue Johnson ©2001
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