Bolton Villas United Reformed Church
Wrose, Yorkshire
Following the reclaiming of the chapel by the conformists in 1689 the non conformists worshiped in a barn until 1717 when the first Upper Chapel was constructed. The challenges of building are with us again as we strive to build the fifth Upper Chapel to continue God’s work.
The original 1630 chapel still stands at the junction of Westfield Lane and Town Lane. It was here that Revd John Smallwood was appointed as the first Congregationalist Minister in 1660. Smallwood had been chaplain to the Parliamentarian Lord Thomas Fairfax during the English civil war.
The conformists reclaimed the chapel in 1689 from which time the non conformists held their services in a barn in Westfield Lane belonging to Mrs Ledgard until the first Upper Chapel was built in 1717, approximately where the current building stands. The name Upper Chapel was used to differentiate it from the original chapel down the road. Part of the lintel stone with the date 1717 inscribed on it survives and is held in storage.
In 1768, Revd Joseph Dawson, the fourth minister, started a school which soon gained a good reputation and he also practised medicine for the benefit of the congregation. He discovered coal deposits in the fields around the chapel and began to purchase the land and brought mining to the area.
Revd William Vint, a staunch Congregationalist became Minister of the still Independent Upper Chapel in 1790. In 1791 a new building, the second upper chapel, was opened to house the growing congregation. Revd Vint started the Ministers Training College with the first four students in 1794.
Following the expansion of the school rooms in 1849, the third Upper Chapel was opened on Good Friday the following year.
The chapel continued to thrive and in April 1857 the church was received into the Congregational Union following 140 years of independence. By mid 1950’s the chapel building was in need of replacement and in 1957 the fourth Upper Chapel was opened. The building was constructed in the open courtyard. The chapel was fitted out with Robert Thompson ‘mouseman’ oak furniture and a 1544 pipe electro pneumatic organ.
In 2013 the very difficult decision was made to sell the buildings as the church members had decided to try and build a new chapel. The members meet in a rented room in the old chapel for now until the fifth Upper Chapel can be built.