Chowbent Chapel

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Coordinates: 53°31′28″N 2°29′08″W / 53.5245°N 2.4856°W / 53.5245; -2.4856
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Chowbent Chapel is a plain building made of rustic brick with stone details, round arched windows and a small cupola on the gable end.

Chowbent Chapel is an active

umbrella organisation for British Unitarians.[1] The chapel was granted Grade II* Listed status in 1966.[2]

History

The origins of Chowbent Chapel are a consequence of events that happened in 1715. The first chapel in Atherton, a

Presbyterian congregation. The chapel was also used by the vicar of Leigh who used a Bible and Book of Common Prayer which were kept there for his use.[3][4]

It was a long, low building having three windows and a porch on the south side and a large window in the east gable ... The pulpit was of the old-fashioned Puritan three-tier style.[5]

During the

Old Pretender who were marching on Preston. The Chowbenters were successful but in doing so offended Richard Atherton who would inherit the Atherton manor and on whose land the chapel was built.[6] In 1721 Richard Atherton, a staunch supporter of James II, expelled the congregation on political grounds.[3]

Architecture

Chowbent Chapel interior, showing pulpit and gallery

The chapel dates from 1721 on land donated by Nathan Mort of neighbouring Alder House[7] It is built in rustic

facade has a gable pediment with an oculus within the tympanum. There is a fanlight above the double doors with a sundial above and a commemorative plaque above that.[2]

turned Doric oak columns which continue through the gallery to support the plaster ceiling.[8] A nail studded oak door separating the chapel from the vestry is thought to be from the original 1645 chapel.[2][9] Other surviving artefacts brought from the 1645 building are the communion table and two Commonwealth silver communion cups gifted by Robert Mort in 1654.[9] The cups are not kept at the chapel and are rarely displayed. Some of the stained glass windows are by Shrigley and Hunt.[8]

When newly built, the chapel's oak rafters and trusses were open to view, its walls were whitewashed and the windows contained leaded panes of clear glass set in a lozenge pattern. An organ was installed in 1806 as up to then the only music was the chanting of psalms. An organ by Young of Manchester was installed in 1901 when the chapel was enlarged.[10]

Community

Wall plaque for the Unitarian Sunday School, 1860

A schoolroom was opened in the minister's house shortly after the chapel opened. It was extended in 1860 and again in 1890. Before 1900 a library provided by the chapel was opened in Chowbent School for the inhabitants of the town. Its collection of 4000 volumes was donated to Atherton's Carnegie library when it opened in 1905. [11]

Ministers

Apart from Wood, other notable ministers of the chapel included Harry Toulmin (1766 – 1823) who moved to America and became Secretary of State of Kentucky[12] and Thomas Walker Horsfield (1792–1837) a historian and topographer.[13]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Find a Congregation: Atherton, The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (Great Britain), archived from the original on 20 July 2011, retrieved 23 January 2011
  2. ^ a b c Historic England, "Chowbent Unitarian Chapel (1068472)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 4 December 2012
  3. ^ a b William Farrer; J Brownbill, eds. (1907), "Atherton", A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, British History Online, pp. 435–439, retrieved 28 August 2009
  4. ^ Lunn 1971, p. 43
  5. ^ Wright 1921, p. 17
  6. ^ Wright 1921, p. 28
  7. ^ Wright 1921, pp. 41–42
  8. ^ a b c Pevsner, Pollard & Sharples 2006, p. 137
  9. ^ a b Wright 1921, p. 43
  10. ^ The Present Day at Chowbent Unitarian Chapel, Chowbent Chapel, retrieved 4 December 2012
  11. ^ Wright 1921, p. 93
  12. ^ Wright 1921, p. 57
  13. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13815
    , retrieved 5 December 2012 (subscription required)

Bibliography

53°31′28″N 2°29′08″W / 53.5245°N 2.4856°W / 53.5245; -2.4856 J.J.Wright's book has been reprinted and copies are still available, see website for details.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chowbent Chapel, Atherton.
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