Wainsgate Chapel

Wainsgate Chapel is a former Baptist Chapel, perched on the hillside above Hebden Bridge in the hamlet of Old Town. It's a historic Grade II listed building, now used - imaginatively - as an arts centre: home to artists' studios, concerts, dance performances (about which there was recently a fascinating article in The Guardian HERE), film nights, markets and all sorts of other community events. (See HERE) They had an open day recently so I went along to explore it. 

It's a large chapel with lots of rooms above and behind too, presumably at one time housing a Sunday School. The first chapel here was built in 1750, during an exciting period of Evangelical Revival in the north of England. The present chapel dates to 1815, built to house a growing congregation. It was closed in 2001 and is now in the care of the Historic Chapels Trust. 

The Mitchell family, owners of the local woollen mill, were generous benefactors, presenting the alabaster pulpit in 1891. In front of this, under the floorboards, is a full-sized baptismal pool in which adult church members could be baptised by full immersion, as is the Baptist tradition.  

The Mitchell family also gave much of the stained glass, which is rather wonderful. I don't think many non-conformist chapels have much stained glass; I think it was considered too fancy. 

The windows in the Sunday School look out over fields, with beautiful views, and one of them has coloured glass too.  

The chapel itself has numbered box pews on the ground floor. In the entrance lobby there is a seating plan. Members of the congregation were expected to pay a pew rent and the plan shows who was allowed to sit where. 

If it was a rainy Sunday and you brought in a wet umbrella, there is a special rack in the entrance lobby where you could leave it:

There are some beautiful details like the amber glass door handles:

The chapel is now run by an enthusiastic group of local volunteers, and there are many projects being undertaken. The large graveyard is a wildlife sanctuary and there are plans for a 'Garden for Lost Workers', a national memorial to all those who have lost their lives at work. The existing graves are being mapped to tell the story of those interred here, and burials and the burial of ashes are still allowed, as the ground is unconsecrated, welcoming those of all religious and non-religious traditions to this peaceful place.