A former Wesleyan Assembly Hall and Methodist Church now converted to apartments was honoured with the 9th heritage blue plaque on November 10, 2007.
Chapel house, as it is now known, was built in 1903 as the Wesleyan Assembly Hall and Sunday School, to provide extra accommodation for the neighbouring Wells Road Methodist Chapel, which stood on the site of the present Guardian Court having been demolished in 1970.
The laying of the Foundation Stones for the building was well recorded in the local newspaper at the time. The full transcript can be read by clicking this link.
1903 07 11 - The Ilkley Gazette - Assembly Hall Stone Laying
The history of the Wesleyan Church in Ilkley goes back to the early days of the 1800s and the write up on the Old Wesleyan Chapel (Blue Plaque no. 17) erected in 1834 includes more details. In 1870, a new place of worship had been erected in Wells Road on a plot of land acquired from the first land sale of the Middleton Estate held in 1867. The plot did not lend itself to more than the Church and a house for the minister adjoining it. However, underneath the new Church space had been included for Sunday school and all other meetings however this space could not accommodate the growing needs of the congregation.
Since 1882 Mr. Albert Wellesley Bain, head of A W Bain and Son, insurance brokers and general manager of Sprinkler Fire Office Limited in offices in Leeds, had been chapel steward, circuit steward and class leader and superintendent of the Ilkley Sunday School. Mr A. W. Bain was originally from Ireland, however as a young man he left for South Africa, traveling across the veldt by ox-wagon for six weeks to the diamond fields and staked a claim. He used to say he was the first man to dig up a diamond at Kimberley. After a not very successful start his luck improved, and he was able to set up as one of the first diamond brokers in the De Beers Old Camp. On coming to Ilkley, he lived at The Bracken on Crossbeck Road. It was Mr. Bain who initiated the considerations for a new Sunday School, as the Church premises were considered inadequate, although shortly before the laying of the foundation stones he had left Ilkley to live at Harlow Grange, Harrogate. In 1912-13 he was elected Mayor of Leeds.
The formal plan for an Assembly Hall and Sunday School had started about four or five years before the foundation stones were laid. Rev. Joseph Dawson then Superintendent of the circuit, held a meeting at his house to consider the matter and as an outcome it was arranged to purchase the plot of land adjoining the church. The land was purchased for £1,050 in December 1899 from the executors of the late Mr. Alfred Davey of Nesfield Hall, who along with one or two other gentlemen had previously purchased it with the object of erecting a public house. There were however insufficient funds yet available to build any large scheme. A few years later the plans were advanced by Rev. Dr. Stephenson.
Rev. Dr. Thomas Bowman Stephenson, who was the Founder in 1869 and Principal of the National Children's Home (in 2008 re-named Action for Children), resigned from the position of Principal due to ill health in 1900. He considered he could still serve Wesleyanism, having previously served as President of the Methodist Conference in 1891-92, and negotiated to return to circuit work as the Superintendent of the Ilkley Circuit, moving to Ilkley from London in September 1900. Once here, he assisted in the establishment of the Wesleyan Deaconess College in Queens Road and a fuller account of his life and works will be included in Deaconess Court Blue Plaque no. 14 write up. After 5 years in Ilkley, he retired to London where he died on 6 July 1912.
The first serious fundraiser came with the efforts of not only Rev. Stephenson but also his wife and Miss Hepton in June 1902 with the promotion of a bazaar raising £970. In the meantime, subscriptions had been received amounting to over £700, and with a promised grant of £400 from the 20th Century Fund, the erection of a building was now possible.
A tender for the designs of the new building was held and Adkin and Hill, Prudential Buildings, Bradford were awarded the contract from many competitors. Alexander George Adkin the principal architect in the firm was Ilkley born and had over the years designed many properties in the town as well as being connected to the Wesleyan Church. In 1895 he had married Miss Beatrice Baxter, niece of Mr. Edward P. Dove in the Church. He had also designed, The Briary for Mr. Sidney Kellett, Ashbrook for the Hepton Family and Sedbergh Chambers for Mr. J. T. Jackson. All three along with Mr Dove were prominent Ilkley Wesleyans and were to be involved in the laying of the of foundation stones of the new buildings.
The design based on the central hall principle was a free treatment of late gothic and consisted of:
- Large hall to accommodate 650, but the interior arranged such that the hall can be reduced to two sizes.
- 12 classrooms round the central hall divided by sliding partitions.
- Interior woodwork - pitch pine.
- Two adult classrooms near the entrance provided with lavatory accommodation, so as to serve as cloakrooms for concerts etc.
- Lecture room to accommodate 120.
- Church parlour to accommodate 80.
- Infant’s classroom to accommodate 60.
- At the south end of the central hall a telescopic platform to seat 100.
- At the north end a gallery to seat 120.
- At the front, which faces north, will be a large tracery window to be filled with coloured lights.
- Other accommodation included caretaker’s apartments, kitchens etc.
- Hammer dressed local stone for the masonry and the blue slates for the roof.
- The heating arrangement was low-pressure hot water system, with the boiler in the basement, and for ventilating purposes a fan is to be fixed discharging foul air into a turret over the small tower to be a conspicuous feature of the northwest angle of the building.
The following firms secured the various contracts; - Mr. L. T. Learoyd, builder, Ilkley; Messrs Eagle & Mawson, joiners, Ilkley; Messrs W. & H. Pickles, plumbers, Shipley; Mr Thomas Nelson, slater, Bradford; Mr Oswald Lister, plasterer, Ilkley; and Mr J. W. Walton, painter, Frizinghall, Mr. John Stones, patent folding door maker, Ulverston; Mr. J. Anderson, heating engineer, Bradford.
The whole undertaking was estimated to cost £4,500 with an additional £450 being required for furnishings.
The foundation stone laying took place on July 4, 1903, in beautiful weather led by Rev. Dr. Stephenson and was well documented:
Mike Dixon Collection
Mike Dixon Collection
Mike Dixon Collection
Sally Gunton Collection
The first stone, which was situated on the right side of the entrance to the new building was laid by Mr S Kellett, to whom a very handsome silver trowel was presented by Mr. A. Adkin, the architect. Underneath this stone was placed a bottle containing a copy of the current issue of the Ilkley Gazette, Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury (from which the betting news had been cut out), Yorkshire Daily Observer, British Weekly, Methodist Times, Methodist Recorder, a circuit plan list of the trustees and the building committee and the name of the architect.
Sydney Kellett was a member of the Bradford based textile merchant and manufacturing company Kellett, Woodman & Co, a West Riding magistrate, and for some years represented the Ilkley Division on the West Riding County Council. Over the years, as well as a prominent Wesleyan, Mr. Kellett was a benefactor to most of the charitable and philanthropic institutions in Ilkley. He had long been a member of the committee of the Ilkley Hospital and Convalescent Home and was also connected with the Ilkley Coronation Cottage Hospital. In 1912, after leasing Middelton Lodge for a while, Mr Kellett bought the lodge from the Marmaduke Middelton breaking eight centuries of Middelton family association.
The stone on the opposite side of the entrance was laid by Mrs. Hepton in memory of her daughters, Emily and Polly, to whom a silver trowel was presented by Mr. J. C. Naylor, one of the trustees of the building and associated with the Sunday School for over 21 years. Mr. James Crowther Naylor, a dental surgeon living at Barlby Villas (Blue Plaque no.23) had been Caretaker at Ilkley National Schools, and was to be the first Chairman of the Ilkley Education Committee in 1908 and had been a member of the Ilkley School Board as well as a Ilkley District Councillor. In 1926 he was recognised for 50 years’ service as secretary to the trustees of the Ilkley Wesleyan Church.
The Hepton family were long established with the Ilkley Wesleyan Church. Mrs Hepton’s husband William (of the Yorkshire Brass and Copper Works, Leeds) had been an initiator and funder of the spire that was a late addition to the Church in the 1870s as well as church steward. William and his daughter Polly died within a few months of each other in 1879 and in 1889 Mrs Hepton and the family paid for the 20ft by 12ft stained glass window above the entrance to the Church as a memorial to William and Polly. Emily and Polly had been Sunday School teachers.
The third foundation stone was for Mrs. J. T. Jackson, however she was unable to present the stone and it was by Miss Gertrude Jackson, to whom a silver trowel was presented by Mr John Brown. Mr. Brown who had been connected with Ilkley all his life, gave some interesting reminiscence relating to the old church in Addingham Road.
Mrs. Jackson was the wife of John Thomas Jackson, Elmleigh, Ilkley and died in 1906 at Limes-Hydropathic in Southport. Mr J T Jackson J.P. was a prominent Liberal and councillor in the town. He was responsible for providing the land that the Town Hall, Library and King’s Hall stand (Blue Plaque no.1) as well as being a benefactor of many Ilkley organisations. His career started as an apprenticed merchant pawnbroker and jeweller with Messrs. Middelton of Leeds, however at the age of 20 he founded his own business. By the 1890s Jackson Stores Ltd had over 30 branches in Yorkshire and Lancashire, selling second hand furniture with “Easy Payment Systems”.
The next stone was laid by Mrs. S. P. Myers, to whom a trowel was presented by Mr. E. P. Dove. Mrs Mary Ellen Myers (nee Dixon) was Mr. Samuel Peel Myers J.P. second wife, having married in 1898. Mr S. P. Myers aged 72 in 1903 and 25 years older than Mary, was a prominent public figure in Bradford who when marrying again moved from his Bradford home Rosse Dunne, 72 Emm Lane, Heaton to Ilkley in 1900, first taking up residence at 12 Eaton Road before in 1905 moving to Linndale on Wells Road where they lived until Mr. S. P. Myers died in 1917. Mr. Myers owned the linings manufacturer S P Myers and Co, the Birkshead Mill in Wilsden, and was a Wesleyan Lay Preacher and Sunday School teacher.
The foundation stone on the northwest corner was laid by Mr. T. S. Simpson, in memory of his father, the Rev. W. O. Simpson, the trowel being presented by Mr. L. Eagle. Rev. W. O. Simpson was the Superintendent of the Ilkley Circuit when he died suddenly in 1881 after only two years in Ilkley. Mr. Simpson was a celebrated Wesleyan Preacher, who prior to coming to Ilkley had served three years each at the chapels in Great Horton and Eastbrook, Bradford. His early career included 12 years as a missionary in India.
The stone at the northeast corner was laid by Dr. Stephenson. In presenting the trowel, Mr. knight referred to the great and valuable services Dr. Stephenson had rendered not only to the Methodist Church at large but during the many years he had been connected with the Children's Homes. This building was to be a kind of children's home and therefore it was very fitting that Dr. Stephenson who had done so much for children, should lay one of the stones.
Dr. Stephenson remarked that it was rather an unusual thing for a stone to be laid by the pastor of the church in connection with which it was laid. Not many such instances had come under his own observation, and he was therefore very grateful to the friends who had spontaneously offered him this token of their respect and regard. He believed it was not alone because he had endeavoured to do something for children that they had so kindly asked him to lay this stone, but because he had endeavoured to do his duty in this circuit and also because his work here had been appreciated.
The new Sunday school and Church Buildings were opened with a dedication and a public meeting on Tuesday September 20, 1904. A full transcript of the local papers report can be found by clicking this link.
1904 09 24 - The Ilkley Gazette - Dedication Service
Having been completed it was reported that there was a good deal of ornamentation inside and out and with a view to the more harmonious treatment, the interior decoration has been carried out on somewhat unique lines, the new art style being employed, with embellishments Mr Adkin himself designed.
The opening of the buildings was to have been performed by Mr. Kellett, however he was indisposed so his daughter, Mrs Leonard Cooper declared the buildings open to the glory of God and the use of the church. There was a large gathering outside to witness the brief ceremony.
The Rev. Dr. Maggs led the dedication service inside the buildings supported by the Rev. Sylvester Whitehead (president of the Conference), Rev. Dr. Stephenson, Rev. Dr. Muntz (vicar of Ilkley), Rev. T. Hammer (Congregationalist), Rev. A. Nightingale and the Rev W. H Ibberson (Baptists), Rev. J. W. Silcox and the Rev. A. Freeman (Harrogate). Dr. Stephenson presented Mrs. Cooper, for her father, a beautiful copy of the new Wesleyan hymn book, and promised her that as soon as possible she should also receive a copy as a memento of the occasion.
The dedication ceremony was followed by a service in the church led by the president, and afterwards a large number sat down to tea in the new school room. In the evening a well-attended public meeting took place. Dr. Mags presented a brief financial statement, £3,213 had been paid on account of contracts, £704 still to pay and with the land of £950 made the total cost of the scheme £4,867 or £5000 in round figures. They still had £2,300 yet to raise however they were permitted to allow a certain portion to remain as a debt after raising another £1,100 to claim the £400 20th Century grant.
Sally Gunton Collection
Following the opening the hall was used for Sunday School and midweek activities. Examples over the next ten years of other activities were:
- 1905 April -Annual Conference of Yorkshire Women’s Guild of Christian Service.
- 1907 November – Quarterly Conference of the Women’s Liberal Associations of Otley District.
- 1909 May – Halifax and Bradford District Synod (Held again in the Assembly Hall in 1921 and 1927)
- 1909 June – A Social to entertain the East Lancashire Royal Engineers.
- 1913 February- Under the auspices of the Industrial Law committee, the first of a series of four lectures took place. The lecture was “The Woman Worker and her Wages”.
During the First World War the Home Defence operated from the Hall and it was used as a social centre for Belgian Refugees. In 1917 there was an urgent appeal from the War Office for additional accommodation to house increasing numbers of casualties. The Grove Hospital (known as the Ilkley Auxiliary Military Hospital No. 1) was already providing 100 beds and because of the appeal, the Wesleyan Assembly Hall (No. 2 – 50 beds) and the Congregational Lecture Hall (No. 3 – 50 beds) were converted into further hospitals. All three (200 beds) were under one administration and officially recognised as one hospital. In May 1917 the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligence reported that the first wounded received at the Wesleyan Assembly Hall were transfers from 2nd Northern General Hospital, Becketts Park, Leeds.
After the conclusion of the War, in October 1920, framed documents were placed in the entrance halls of the Assembly Hall and Congregational Lecture Hall bearing the inscription ‘During the Great War 1914-19 this building was established and maintained as a hospital for the British sick and wounded. The Army Council express great thanks on behalf of the nation.’
The Wharfedale Musical Festival that had been held in the King’s Hall, Ilkley proved to have it’s most successful year to date in 1919 and Assembly Hall was utilised for some of the Open events due to the abnormal volume of entries. There are various newspaper records that show the Assembly Hall was used, by the festival, until at least 1952.
During the Second World War the West Riding County Council used the hall for educational purposes. Two Leeds Schools, Brudenell and Queens Road were evacuated to Ilkley at the outbreak of the war. By February 1940, owing to the falling off of the numbers attending, the two schools were amalgamated, and the 170 pupils continued at the Assembly Hall.
It then resumed its use as an assembly hall and Sunday school after the War’s conclusion. By the 1960s, the Wesleyan Chapel opposite was suffering from dry rot and decay. At the same time the Primitive Methodists were having trouble with their Leeds Road building, which was becoming unsafe, and the decision was made to convert the Assembly Hall into a combined Methodist Church, Sunday school and Youth club as a temporary measure until a new church could be built. The new space was dedicated as a church in 1969. The old Wesleyan Church, Wells Road site was sold in November 1971 for £26,000 (a record figure at the time for a land sale in Ilkley), the church demolished and Guardian Court Flats subsequently built.
The full transcript of the dedication of the Assembly Hall as the temporary church can be read by clicking on this link:
Mike Dixon Collection
The conversion to a Church was done mainly by volunteer except for the painting of the high ceiling. Shades of pale apricot and magnolia paint were used in the main hall and the dark woodwork was either stripped to its natural colour or painted. The walls of the main staircase were done in two shades of moss green. Other corridors and rooms were pale apricot and magnolia.
The extending stage in the main hall provided the sanctuary with the choir pews and a light wooden pulpit accommodated on the stage. The communion table, chairs and rail were at floor level. Wood and items from both the Leeds Road and Wells Road church buildings was incorporated in the sanctuary. A classroom at each side of the main hall was decorated to provide the Minister’s and choir vestries.
The dedication service was conducted by the Rev. Leonard Constantine on the theme of ‘Thanksgiving and Dedication’. The first Baptism at Ilkley Methodist Church, held on that day, was that of Kevin John Jubb, second son of Mr. and Mrs. John Jubb, Wellington Road, Ilkley. Lessons were read by Mr. George Askew, Society Steward at Leeds Road and Mr Peter Hinde, Society Steward at Wells Road.
At the start of 1974 work had begun on a £44,000 modernisation scheme at the Ilkley Methodist Church, however on Monday June 3, a fire swept across the re-constructed roof.
Click on this link to read a full transcript of the newspaper report.
1974 06 07 Ilkley Gazette - Ilkley Methodist Church Roof Destroyed by Fire
Ilkley Gazette Photo - Fire Brigade Removing Slate
Mike Dixon Collection
The work on reconstructing the church roof was nearing completion. It had been hoped the new building would be ready in January 1975. When the contractors moved in the Methodists shared joint services with the Ilkley United Reform Church on the Grove for about eighteen months.
A novel aspect was extensive excavation of the basement to provide youth facilities for which Bradford Council agreed substantial funding and the youth church, however at the time of the reopening that work was still ongoing.
In July 1975 the new Ilkley Methodist Church was complete and reopened. Click on this link to read a full transcript of the newspaper reports.
Dedication Service - Mike Dixon Collection
Dedication Service - Mike Dixon Collection
These two pictures show The Church being reopened by Mr. S. A. Clark, one of the oldest active church members in front of an invited congregation of a 300 people with a rededication and thanksgiving service.
The main church entrance was on Wells Promenade and opened into a large, carpeted foyer with a small new Chapel off the foyer containing a section of wall comprising stones collected by church members and a cross of charred wood salvaged from the roof fire. A large cross of wood taken from the Leeds Road and Wells Road Churches was the centre of attention in the church.
New kitchen and toilet facilities were provided on the ground floor, along with the Minister's vestry and the Guild Room. A new stairway lead from the foyer to other meeting rooms upstairs.
As part of the reopening ceremony the keys were handed by the architect Mr D. V. Robinson (of JB Bailey and Son) to the property steward, Mr Clifford Bastow, who then invited Mr. S. A. Clarke to unlock the door. The official act was relayed to the congregation waiting inside. Rev R. J. Bradwell paid tribute to Mr Clifford Bastow, the property steward, who had acted as an unpaid, on-the-spot agent during the alterations ‘We owe him a great deal’.
Although there were many ordained representatives in attendance the prayers were said in different parts of the church by congregation representatives: Mr P J Hinde (Local Preacher) at the pulpit; Julia Robinson and Matthew Halsall (baptised in the old church) at the font; Mr Andrew Walbank (Communion Steward) at the communion table; Miss Kathleen Hunter (choir) by the organ; Mrs Judy Dixon (Church Member) in the worship area.
After several years as a flourishing church and youth club, the Methodist Church was approached by the Congregationalists on the Grove regarding unification and a move to the Grove. The churches united with a sharing agreement as ‘Christchurch’ in November 1981, but the move took a while longer. The Grove Church needed re-modelling and renovation before a move could be undertaken and this was financed by the sale of the Assembly Hall site to a group of three church members and a local builder, L Clayton who each paid £25,000 towards the cost. The conversion into 10 residences was designed by the architects Allison and McRae. Fortunately, the group could wait until the Grove building was ready before they set about the conversion of the former Methodist Church into the apartments that comprise ‘Chapel House’. This work commenced soon after the Church vacated the site in December 1985. The conversion came in under budget, and it was given a Civic Award for its sympathetic treatment of the outer elevations, especially the north window.
This plaque has been sponsored by Chapel House Management Company and Ilkley Civic Society
Ilkley Local History Hub would like to hear from people with pictures or information about Chapel House - localhistory@civicsociety.ilkley.org