Education at Mount Zion
Education has always been central at Mount Zion. Methodists have always believed that being able to read the Bible is essential; the ability to express one's ideas and beliefs both verbally and through the written word, have also always been considered important.
To enable this, the first Sabbath school was held at Mount Zion in 1784. To begin with classes were held in the Chapel and it is more than likely that both adults and children attended. To understand how radical this was, by comparison a Sunday school was not initiated at the Anglican Parish Church of John the Baptist (now Halifax Minster), until 1830.
A Purpose Built School
The first Mount Zion Methodist school was built in 1816.
This was a two storey building with a staircase on the outside. The photograph below was taken between 1845 and 1850. On the front of the building may be seen two foundation stones, and a sun dial. The whereabouts of the latter are now sadly unknown, but the foundation stones survive. They were moved to the interior of the later 1887 Sunday school.
The lower storey of the 1816 building was run as a day school. There was a small fee for children to attend. In most similar schools this was a penny, but there is no record of the amount charged at Mount Zion . The school was the only one locally available to children of poor, working families, until the Bradshaw Elementary School opened its doors to provide free day schooling, as a result of Forster's 1870 Elementary Education Act. The upstairs room was where Sunday school classes were held and again it is more than likely, that both children and adults attended these classes.
Both the day and Sunday school, were two of the earliest in the country. Not only did they provide education in basic literacy, reading and writing (the children using first sand and then slates to ‘make’ their letters’), but they also focused on Christian, moral and social education.
Both schools were popular initiatives and by 1830 the number of 'scholars' attending had risen to nearly six hundred.
A New Sunday School
In 1987 work on a new purpose-built Sunday school commenced. The foundation stones were laid on the 13th of August, by a Miss Robinson, William Simpson, A Ramsden and Benjamin Firth.
In the Mount Zion collection, we have several elaborately decorated cradle roles, which provide a record of many of those who attended this new Sunday school.
We also have a number of interesting photographs. This one shows children in the very early twentieth century, with their teacher in what is now the burial ground behind the Chapel.
The Sunday School and World War I
A very poignant artefact is one which lists the names of boys who were Sunday school scholars, who went on to serve in World War I. Some of the names are highlighted and it is possible that this denotes that these individuals never returned home from the war.
The 1912 photograph below shows male Sunday school attendees, teachers and a minister. It is sobering to reflect on the fact that many of these boys and young men will have volunteered, or perhaps been conscripted to fight in World War I.
Not all Methodists supported the war, many were pacifists. One notable Methodist minister, Norman Thomas, was an outspoken critic of the war, he advocated for social justice and nonviolent solutions. He influenced many Methodists, encouraging conversations about the role of faith in times of conflict.
More Recent Times
The Sunday School at Mount Zion thrived well into the mid twentieth century. The photo below shows children and their teacher in the 1950s.
From the 1970s onwards, attendance began to steadily decline. Consequently the 1887 Sunday school building was sold for residential development in the early 1980s. However, Sunday school teaching continued at Mount Zion well into the twenty first century, in one guise or another, but once again located in the Chapel or sexton's cottage,
Education at Mount Zion Today
Today education remains important at Mount Zion, we welcome schools, college, university and community groups to learn in and about the Chapel, the locality, its people, history, religion and the Methodist Connexion.
To find out more about our education offer, click here: learning outside the classroom at Mount Zion.
To access more Sunday school records and information click here: WYAS