Early days
Reverend John Wesley, first preached in Halifax on the 22nd of August 1748, probably speaking to a crowd outside the Union Cross Inn. A man called James Riley from Bradshaw, was there and he stated afterwards that 'Wesley disturbed my conscience and troubled my soul.' The following Sunday he went to Haworth to hear the Reverend William Grimshaw preach at a house meeting in what is now the Bronte Parsonage Museum. James Riley was so impressed by these two ‘Methodist’ preachers, that he instigated regular house meetings for people living in and around Bradshaw, Brockholes, and Ogden.
The desirability of a purpose-built chapel in the area became apparent in 1772, when a particularly severe snowstorm resulted in a visiting preacher being stranded for a week at the house of a member of the Methodist Society. A year later in 1773 a chapel with an adjoining sexton’s cottage was built at Upper Brockholes (apparently the first meeting was held there before the roof was even on!). It was initially known as Mount Sion (Zion), Bradshaw, as it was located within the Anglican Parish of Bradshaw.
John Wesley first visited Mount Zion to preach on the 22nd of April 1774. He recorded in his journal:
I rode to Bradshaw House, standing alone in a dreary waste. But, although it was a cold and stormy day, the people flocked from all quarters.
He stayed in the sexton’s cottage and noted that ‘The house afforded hospitality and shelter for man and beast’. The room in which he stayed was subsequently known as the Prophet’s Chamber. His horse was stabled below, in what is today the kitchen! John Wesley paid his last visit to Mount Zion in May 1790. He was by then 87 years old and two friends had to assist him when he preached.
Reverend William Walker in his 1901 book ‘Told by the Dial’, describes diamond paned windows in the Prophet's Chamber, on which was etched 'Time how short - eternity how long. C.W', suggesting that Charles Wesley (John’s brother) also visited the Chapel. The windows sadly no longer exist, but this quotation is now etched into the diamond centerpiece of the relatively recent Irene Cunliffe Memorial Peace Garden, which is located near the sexton’s cottage.
A New Connexion
After John Wesley died there was growing disagreement among Methodists about the way forward, increasingly excluded from Anglican churches, many wished to move away from Anglicanism (something which John Wesley had never supported). Different groups began to form and in 1797 the New Connexion, or Kilhamite movement, prompted by the preaching of Alexander Kilham, at the Ebenezer Chapel in Leeds, became the first to break away from Wesleyan Methodism.
The New Connexion Kilhamites were often accused of being too radical. They demanded the right to hold religious worship at convenient hours, not only as appointed by the Anglican Church. They wanted to receive Baptism and the Lord’s Supper from the hands of their own ministers and in their own places of worship (it was normal for Methodist to receive these in a parish church). They wanted both clergy and lay people to be represented at District Meetings, the Annual Conference and in all aspects of the government of the community, including the acceptance and expulsion of members, the choice of local officers and in the ‘calling’ of the ministry.
In 1796 Mount Zion became one of the first New Connexion chapels in the country. In Halifax the Kilhamites were led by the minister William Thom, who had been the Wesleyan Circuit Superintendent. They were a minority in most chapels and were expelled, being forced to meet in members’ homes. However, the Kilhamites dominated at Mount Zion; consequently the Wesleyans were compelled to leave, initially meeting in a barn across the road and eventually building their own Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Illingworth Moor.
A New Chapel
The original 1773 chapel was eventually demolished, but its architectural style, remains evident in the current sexton’s cottage which was erected at the same time as the first meeting house. The present building opened its doors in 1815. All that now remains of the first chapel are the sundial on the front, bearing the original spelling of the Chapel’s name ‘Mount Sion’ and the foundation stone, which is still visible in the vestry.
The current interior was designed in 1881 by the well-known Halifax company Leeming and Leeming, who also designed the interior of the Admiralty Building in London. The pews were crafted from pitch pine and worshippers paid ‘a pew rent’ to secure their seat. There are 170 ground floor and 180 gallery places. The original pew rent board may still be viewed in the Chapel’s vestry. The Charles Anneessens’ organ is Belgian and was installed in 1892. It is believed that it is one of only six of this type of organ that survives in working order.
Mount Zion’s community provided a Sabbath school for children and adults from 1784. Initially lessons were held in the Chapel. The first purpose-built school opened its doors in 1816. A day school operated on the ground floor and the upper floor was used for ‘Sunday schooling’. The day school ceased after the passing of the 1870 Education Act, which resulted in state funded elementary education. The building was replaced with a more modern Sunday school in 1887 which remained in use until the 1980s, when the building was sold; it is now a private dwelling house.
Reunited
In 1907 the New Connexion Kilhamites joined with the Bible Christians and United Methodist Free Churches to form the United Methodist Church. In 1932 the different Methodist groups came together, and the present Methodist Connexion was formed; the Mount Zion Kilhamite society’s once radical views, becoming mainstream and accepted as common Methodist practice.
To find out more about Christianity, the rise of Methodism and the Christian family tree, please follow this link: Methodism and Christianity