It is now 25 years since the closure of Ickornshaw Methodist Church, but the chapel and the bustling activity surrounding it will never be forgotten. Much of the history of the building – which is now a block of luxury flats – was penned by June Hargreaves in a booklet published in 1976 to mark the centenary of the chapel, which was opened to the public in July 1876. Built at a cost of £2,276 15s 7d, it was designed to seat 500 worshippers and underneath was a school estimated to accommodate 300 scholars. Reporter Daryl Ames looks at its history.

Early Methodism at Ickornshaw

Although the Ickornshaw Church building was approximately 110 years old when it closed in May 1985, it was not the original Methodist chapel at the tiny hamlet.

Methodism had been practised in Ickornshaw since 1795 when Abram Binns introduced Wesleyan Methodism into the district by establishing a Sunday school and maintaining it at his own expense until his death in February 1812.

In that same year additional properties were secured with the purchase of two cottages and a smithy, so that regular worshippers could be accommodated in a chapel that held 300 people.

The Wesleyan Chapel supplied the needs of the small community of Ickornshaw and Cowling for over half a century until it was said to be “too small and out of repair”.

Efforts were made to find a more suitable site to build a new chapel, but in 1874 it was decided the old building would be demolished and a new chapel would be built in its place.

Influence on village life

A description of Cowling in the Craven Almanac of 1888 said most of the inhabitants manufactured worsted goods and the village afforded a striking example of progress during the previous 50 years.

The village in 1888 was seen as a model of intelligence and thrift. In the early 19th century, the days of hand loom weaving were difficult financially. Weavers were paid fortnightly and had a tendency to spend the week after being paid “idling and indulging in horseplay”.

The population was slightly less than 2,000 people and many of the male adults “generously supported” the two public houses and five beer shops in the village. The numbers of people attending any place of worship were in the minority.

By 1888 all this had changed. The number of licensed houses had dwindled and most of the working population were keen investors in the Yorkshire Penny Savings Bank and owned their own houses.

These changes in attitudes and lifestyles had been influenced by the Nonconformist philosophies in most households in the village, and the establishment of a chapel at Ickornshaw had made a significant contribution to this.

Ickornshaw had formed a reputation for its religious revivals and each winter held a week of “revival services”. These well-attended services usually culminated in many young villagers going through the process of “conversion”.

The Sunday school

Memories of the latter years of the old chapel and the early years of the new chapel reveal the significant role of Sunday school in the life of the village.

Children were sent regularly to the Sunday school by devout parents and there they received instruction in general education as well as religious matters.

Spelling tests formed a regular part of the curriculum and children were also taught to read and proficiency rewards were given.

A penny was given to the best speller and the child who finished second was presented with a ticket. A collection of tickets entitled them to the gift of a book and competition among the children was keen.

Music at Ickornshaw

Music was always an important part of the church and the original organ was eventually replaced with a Laycock and Bannister tubular pneumatic pipe organ. The instrument was powered by a water turbine, but in hot, rainless summers had to be hand-pumped by members of the choir.

The official launch of the organ took place in 1907 and the overall cost was £497, which was raised through subscriptions and donations, including £150 from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. In September 1911 Watson Dawson was appointed organist, a post he retained until his retirement in December 1955.

Mary (Mamie) Robinson was then appointed and she remained organist until the church’s closure. For 15 years during that time Gladys Gott was co-organist. Choir mistress from 1945 was Alice Whitaker (later Smith), who retained the position until the church closed.

Mrs Robinson and Mrs Smith were instrumental in the revival of oratorio and other religious works in the district. They raised choirs of up to 100 members from Cowling and neighbouring towns and villages and engaged many well-known local and international soloists. Some of the works produced to packed houses were Messiah, Creation, Elijah, Hymn of Praise, Samson, Judas Maccabeus, Olivet to Calvary and Crucifixion.

After the church closed in May 1985, the Laycock and Bannister organ was removed to an organ builders’ workshop and in 1993 it was installed at the Roman Catholic Church of St Vincent de Paul, in Hull.

On July 24, 2004 some friends of Ickornshaw visited the Hull church and Gracie Smith, of Silsden, a well-known local organist and teacher, was asked to perform a recital of favourite pieces.

Ickornshaw memories

Howard Benson (the great-nephew of former organist Watson Dawson and grandson of church founder Elias Redman), who now lives at Silsden, went to Ickornshaw for about 20 years before its closure.

He was a Sunday school teacher at the chapel and said this was the first thing to go in the final years before Ickornshaw’s closure. “It was absorbed into St Andrew’s Methodist Church (at Cowling) and the congregation then more or less moved to St Andrew’s,” he said.

Edna Smith, 76, of Cowling, went to Ickornshaw all of her life before the chapel’s closure in 1985. She served in the church’s choir and was also a Sunday school teacher.

“It’s such a different world now,” she said. “Back then, everything revolved around the church and Sunday school. I remember the good hymn singing and taking part in the three-act plays and concerts.

“I did miss it initially, but I’ve grown accustomed to it being closed. Life goes on.”

As Mrs Smith recalled her fond memories of the chapel, she said she found it “eerie” to walk by the building when it was eventually converted into six luxury apartments in 2004.

“It was strange when the lights came on again,” she said. “It was kind of eerie. I’m glad it wasn’t knocked down.”