A dog, a camera and one of the oldest Methodist Chapels in the Country!
- Kamera Ostalgie
- 10 hours ago
- 4 min read
This afternoon was sunny, one of my dogs was getting bored, so I grabbed my digital camera, an ancient Panasonic LumixTZ8, as I have run out of film, got Belca my Samoyed and off we went!
Nelson, where I live is a bit of a dump, and old industrial mill town made up of terrace houses and old decaying mills, long since devoid of anything to do with the textile industry that they once housed. But the people are friendly and it is set in fantastic if somewhat bleak countryside with loads of places to walk.
We set off, walking through Marsden Park passing the Old Hall, once the seat of the Walton family, the local gentry of old, out onto the old golf course. We picked up an old path that heads straight up to the top of the valley, where there is, or was, an old Iron Age Fort, though only the earthworks can be seen now. Then through a herd of Highland Cattle and out of the field onto a road that runs above the course.
The cattle can be a bit off putting, they sometimes charge me if I have the dogs with me, but today they were at a distance and I managed to cross the field okay.
We got off the road and onto the top of the Golf Course and headed off in the direction of a tiny hamlet called Southfield, where there is a very old Methodist Chapel. The final destination of the walk.
You have to walk the full length of the old Golf Course, but the dogs love it.
There are a few old benches along the way and we make a point of sitting on every one of them, once again looking right over the valley towards Pendle Hill, famous for it's Witches, but that will be another story. The view of Pendle from here is a good one.
Finally we leave the course by a top gate, pass the Shooters Arms which was well and truly shut, no lunch trade here anymore then, and into the hamlet of Southfield. Here I wanted to take a few pictures of the old Chapel as regular readers will know, I'm partial to the odd Nonconformist Chapels dotted around the Lancashire, West Riding of Yorkshire border country.
Southfield Methodist Chapel was built in 1797 after John Wesley one of the founders of Methodism had preached at the site in 1786.
The Chapel is one of only two of its kind in Great Britain, making it quite unique as Methodist Chapels go.
Why is it so unique, well it was originally built as a Barn, not a Chapel but was converted into a Chapel by the builder of it, a local merchant William Sagar. Maybe he was impressed by John Wesley preaching there a few years earlier he converted his barn into a place of worship?
It is a great story and the Chapel is still in use today, which is even better. There are so few Chapels left in use now in this country, as the British people have turned their backs on Christianity and other religions have moved in as a result of mass immigration. The area of East Lancashire and the old West Riding of Yorkshire had so many Chapels not that long ago but most now are shut, many sadly demolished as Great Britain continues its slide towards becoming a total mess of a nation.
But here on a nice sunny afternoon in the East Lancashire hills you could be back in time, old tractors, children playing, dogs wandering around, hens scratching in the field edges for food and friendly local people that want to talk to you and offer your dog a bowl of water on a hot day. This is the Northern England of my childhood and seems a million miles away from today. But here it is still reality. What a wonderful place.
I wander around a while, chatting to the locals, taking a few pictures, whilst my dog Belca has a drink and a sit in the shade. It feels like I am back in the mid 1960's, even the tractor is from another age.
I suppose you would wonder why John Wesley ended up preaching in a little hamlet in the hills above Colne and Nelson. I did.
It seems that the non conformist preachers held quite a few open air services in the Colne, Nelson and Burnley areas from the 1740's onwards. William Ingham the founder of the Inghamites was one such preacher as was John Wesley. Locally a preacher called William Darney of Southfield itself and William Grimshaw the Vicar of nearby Haworth and friend of Wesley preached in the area. When Wesley preached in the area he always stayed with William Sagar of Southfied a wealthy wool stapler and early follower of the Methodist religion, so little Southfield was right in the centre of the start of Methodism which resulted in Wesley preaching there and William Sagar converting his barn into a Methodist Chapel. Fasinatig stuff, and just an afternoons walk away from my home!
Well it was soon time to leave this little Hamlet and head back home. Belca was refreshed from her drink and sleep in the shade I was happy getting a few pictures on the old Lumix, so we head off back home, past the closed Shooters Arms which for some strange reason did not open until 4pm, over the fields and into town.
What a great walk, why have I not gone this way before?
I hope you enjoyed this little post,
take care,
Phil
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