Rivington Unitarian Chapel
Encyclopedia
Rivington Unitarian Chapel is a place of Unitarian
worship in Rivington
, Lancashire
, England. It was founded in 1703 and its motto is "Here let no man a stranger be". The chapel is a Grade II* listed building, and its restoration in 1990 was aided by English Heritage
. The chapel is an active place of worship: services are held at 2.15pm on the first and third Sunday of each month, and the bell
is rung to call worshippers to the service. The congregation is a member of the Manchester District Association of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, part of the umbrella organisation for British Unitarians, General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches
.
has its roots in legislation passed after the Commonwealth
and the English Restoration
, known as the Clarendon Code
which made it difficult for people who did not conform to the established church, the Church of England
. The Act of Uniformity
caused about 2,000 clergy to leave the established church in the Great Ejection
of 1662. The Conventicle Act 1664
prohibited unauthorised religious meetings of more than five people and Nonconformist clergy were not allowed to live within five miles of a parish from which they had been banned by the Five Mile Act 1665
. There was a strong Puritan
element in Rivington, possibly inspired by local martyr, George Marsh
. The Reverend Samuel Newton was ejected from Rivington Church on "Bartholemew Sunday" in 1662 and most probably the congregation followed him. Newton regained a licence to preach in 1672. The Willoughbys of Parham
, of Shaw Place, Heath Charnock
were prominent Presbyterians. and Hugh Willoughby
was one of the first trustees and benefactors. Rivington Chapel was built in 1703.
At Rivington Chapel the Unitarian
doctrine replaced Presbyterianism
in 1754 and around this time the chapel became licensed for weddings. A manse
, or minister's house, was built in 1787. A Sunday school
began in 1795 in the adjacent school house and a library was added, which operated from 1821.
Four men rallied support to build the Presbyterian Lee Chapel at Horwich
, one of them was Moses Cocker, whose farm in Rivington bears his name. The congregation of the chapel stopped an invasion of Methodists who tried to convert them by holding a service at the chapel gates in 1893. J. M. Andrews, the second Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
, married Jessie Ormrod at the chapel in 1902.
The interior of the chapel had extensive repairs in 1960. The chapel was the focus of a national pilgrimage of Unitarians in 1961. The manse is now a private residence; money from the sale was used to create a garden of remembrance
in 1970. After the library closed in 1985 the building became a cafe.
with quoins at the corners and a slate roof. It has a small, hexagonal bellcote on the west gable. The side walls have two cross-windows with rectangular panes of glass and the gable walls have windows with small diamond-latticed panes of glass. On the south side are two doorways with chamfered surrounds; over one door is a lintel dated 1703. At the north-west corner is a two-storey wing with a tall chimney stack, which was the school house. The building is surrounded by a drystone wall and the chapel's original cast iron
gates survive.
with carved frieze
and moulded cornice
. The chapel retains its box pews which were originally individually owned or rented. The Willoughby pew by the south wall has a large ornate canopy
with panelled reredos
and a moulded and carved cornice
in the classical style. There is a choir stall at the east end. The church organ at the south-east corner was a gift in 1843 from Halliwell Road Unitarian Chapel in Bolton
, and has been restored. The chapel has electric lighting but the original candle holders have been retained.
. Brass plates on two pew doors are inscribed "Robert Andrews, John William Crompton, Andrew Crompton" and "The Honourable Lord Willoughby".
of the Manor of Rivington
; the Shaws, whose ancestry can be traced to 1190; the Ormrods; Samuel Oldknow "of Nottingham, late of Anderton", who died 7 August 1759 and whose son, Samuel Oldknow
, was a factory owner and the first Mayor of Bolton; C.J Darbyshire. A plaque commemorates Walt Whitman
, celebrated on 31 May 1913 by the minister, Samuel Thompson and the Eagle Street College
. Four door lintels in the graveyard, two from Rivington Hall and two from farms, have dates between 1695 and 1732.
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
worship in Rivington
Rivington
Rivington is a small village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying . It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is situated on the fringe of the West Pennine Moors, at the foot of Rivington Pike...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England. It was founded in 1703 and its motto is "Here let no man a stranger be". The chapel is a Grade II* listed building, and its restoration in 1990 was aided by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
. The chapel is an active place of worship: services are held at 2.15pm on the first and third Sunday of each month, and the bell
Church bell
A church bell is a bell which is rung in a church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service...
is rung to call worshippers to the service. The congregation is a member of the Manchester District Association of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, part of the umbrella organisation for British Unitarians, General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches
General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches
The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches is the umbrella organisation for Unitarian, Free Christian and other liberal religious congregations in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1928, with denominational roots going back to the Great Ejection of 1662...
.
History
NonconformityNonconformity
Nonconformity may refer to:* Nonconformity , a memoir by Nelson Algren, published posthumously in 1992* Nonconformity , a term in quality management* A type of unconformity in geology...
has its roots in legislation passed after the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
and the English Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
, known as the Clarendon Code
Penal law
In the most general sense, penal is the body of laws that are enforced by the State in its own name and impose penalties for their violation, as opposed to civil law that seeks to redress private wrongs...
which made it difficult for people who did not conform to the established church, the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. The Act of Uniformity
Act of Uniformity 1662
The Act of Uniformity was an Act of the Parliament of England, 13&14 Ch.2 c. 4 ,The '16 Charles II c. 2' nomenclature is reference to the statute book of the numbered year of the reign of the named King in the stated chapter...
caused about 2,000 clergy to leave the established church in the Great Ejection
Great Ejection
The Great Ejection followed the Act of Uniformity 1662 in England. Two thousand Puritan ministers left their positions as Church of England clergy, following the changes after the restoration to power of Charles II....
of 1662. The Conventicle Act 1664
Conventicle Act 1664
The Conventicle Act of 1664 was an Act of the Parliament of England that forbade conventicles...
prohibited unauthorised religious meetings of more than five people and Nonconformist clergy were not allowed to live within five miles of a parish from which they had been banned by the Five Mile Act 1665
Five Mile Act 1665
The Five Mile Act, or Oxford Act, or Nonconformists Act 1665, is an Act of the Parliament of England , passed in 1665 with the long title "An Act for restraining Non-Conformists from inhabiting in Corporations". It was one of the English penal laws that sought to enforce conformity to the...
. There was a strong Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
element in Rivington, possibly inspired by local martyr, George Marsh
George Marsh (martyr)
George Marsh was a Protestant Martyr who was born in the parish of Deane, near Bolton in 1515. He died in Boughton, Chester on 24 April 1555 as a result of the Marian Persecutions which were carried out against religious reformers, Protestants, and other dissenters for their beliefs during the...
. The Reverend Samuel Newton was ejected from Rivington Church on "Bartholemew Sunday" in 1662 and most probably the congregation followed him. Newton regained a licence to preach in 1672. The Willoughbys of Parham
Baron Willoughby of Parham
Baron Willoughby of Parham was a title in the Peerage of England with two creations. The first creation was for Sir William Willoughby who was raised to the peerage under letters patent in 1547, with the remainder to his heirs male of body...
, of Shaw Place, Heath Charnock
Heath Charnock
Heath Charnock is a small village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. It is adjacent to Adlington and Anderton. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001 it has a population of 2,065.-History:...
were prominent Presbyterians. and Hugh Willoughby
Hugh Willoughby, 12th Baron Willoughby of Parham
Hugh Willoughby, 12th Baron Willoughby of Parham was an English peer of the House of Lords. He was the eldest son of Thomas Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby of Parham and his wife Eleanor, daughter of Hugh Whittle of Horwich...
was one of the first trustees and benefactors. Rivington Chapel was built in 1703.
At Rivington Chapel the Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
doctrine replaced Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
in 1754 and around this time the chapel became licensed for weddings. A manse
Manse
A manse is a house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of a Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist or United Church...
, or minister's house, was built in 1787. A Sunday school
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
began in 1795 in the adjacent school house and a library was added, which operated from 1821.
Four men rallied support to build the Presbyterian Lee Chapel at Horwich
Horwich
Horwich is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. It is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest from the city of Manchester. It lies at the southern edge of the West Pennine Moors with the M61 motorway close to the...
, one of them was Moses Cocker, whose farm in Rivington bears his name. The congregation of the chapel stopped an invasion of Methodists who tried to convert them by holding a service at the chapel gates in 1893. J. M. Andrews, the second Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was the de facto head of the Government of Northern Ireland. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920. However the Lord Lieutenant, as with Governors-General in other Westminster Systems such as in Canada, chose to appoint someone...
, married Jessie Ormrod at the chapel in 1902.
The interior of the chapel had extensive repairs in 1960. The chapel was the focus of a national pilgrimage of Unitarians in 1961. The manse is now a private residence; money from the sale was used to create a garden of remembrance
Garden of Remembrance
Garden of Remembrance may be:*Garden of Remembrance , Ireland*Garden of Remembrance, Lockerbie, Scotland, see: Pan Am Flight 103#Memorials and tributes*Garden of Remembrance , by Oneiroid Psychosis...
in 1970. After the library closed in 1985 the building became a cafe.
Exterior
The chapel is a plain structure, built of gritstoneGritstone
Gritstone or Grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for paper and for grindstones to sharpen blades. "Grit" is...
with quoins at the corners and a slate roof. It has a small, hexagonal bellcote on the west gable. The side walls have two cross-windows with rectangular panes of glass and the gable walls have windows with small diamond-latticed panes of glass. On the south side are two doorways with chamfered surrounds; over one door is a lintel dated 1703. At the north-west corner is a two-storey wing with a tall chimney stack, which was the school house. The building is surrounded by a drystone wall and the chapel's original cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
gates survive.
Interior
The ceiling is supported by oak beams; the walls are plain and decorated with lime wash. On the north wall between the windows is a raised five-sided panelled pulpitPulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
with carved frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
and moulded cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
. The chapel retains its box pews which were originally individually owned or rented. The Willoughby pew by the south wall has a large ornate canopy
Canopy (building)
A canopy is an overhead roof or else a structure over which a fabric or metal covering is attached, able to provide shade or shelter. A canopy can also be a tent, generally without a floor....
with panelled reredos
Reredos
thumb|300px|right|An altar and reredos from [[St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic Church|St. Josaphat Catholic Church]] in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. This would be called a [[retable]] in many other languages and countries....
and a moulded and carved cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
in the classical style. There is a choir stall at the east end. The church organ at the south-east corner was a gift in 1843 from Halliwell Road Unitarian Chapel in Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
, and has been restored. The chapel has electric lighting but the original candle holders have been retained.
Interior
In 1844 workmen discovered a damaged memorial stone to Samuel Newton, the ejected Anglican minister who inspired the building of the chapel. It is fixed on the south wall near the entrance. On the north wall is an 18th century monument to the Barons Willoughby of ParhamHugh Willoughby, 15th Baron Willoughby of Parham
Hugh, 15th Baron Willoughby of Parham was an English nobleman and hereditary peer of the House of Lords. He was born in 1713, the eldest son of Charles Willoughby, 14th Baron Willoughby of Parham and Hester, daughter of Henry Davenport of Little Lever and Darcy Lever, near Bolton...
. Brass plates on two pew doors are inscribed "Robert Andrews, John William Crompton, Andrew Crompton" and "The Honourable Lord Willoughby".
Graveyard
In the chapelyard are graves and monuments to the Pilkingtons, Andrews, and Cromptons, LordsLord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...
of the Manor of Rivington
Manor of Rivington
The Manor of Rivington was a medieval manor estate in Rivington, Lancashire, England. Before 1212 the Pilkington family owned six oxgangs of land. Over time it became separated in moieties and by the 16th century the Pilkingtons of Rivington Hall owned a 5/8 share. In 1605 the Lathoms of Irlam...
; the Shaws, whose ancestry can be traced to 1190; the Ormrods; Samuel Oldknow "of Nottingham, late of Anderton", who died 7 August 1759 and whose son, Samuel Oldknow
Samuel Oldknow
thumb|Samuel OldknowSamuel Oldknow was an English cotton manufacturer.Samuel Oldknow Jnr, the eldest son of Samuel Oldknow Sr and Margaret Foster, was born 5 October 1756 in Anderton, near Chorley, Lancashire, and died 18 September 1828 at Mellor Lodge, Derbyshire. He had an elder sister named...
, was a factory owner and the first Mayor of Bolton; C.J Darbyshire. A plaque commemorates Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
, celebrated on 31 May 1913 by the minister, Samuel Thompson and the Eagle Street College
Eagle Street College
The Eagle Street College was an informal literary society established in 1885 at the home of James William Wallace in Eagle Street, Bolton, to read and discuss literary works, particularly the poetry of Walt Whitman, . The group subsequently became known as the Bolton Whitman Fellowship or...
. Four door lintels in the graveyard, two from Rivington Hall and two from farms, have dates between 1695 and 1732.