Masbrough Independent Chapel facts for kids

The Masbrough Independent Chapel was a special church building in Rotherham, England. It was a place of worship for people who followed the Congregationalist faith, which is a type of Christian church. The chapel was active for a long time, from the 1700s until the late 1900s.

In the 1970s, the chapel became part of the United Reformed Church. Later, the people who went to Masbrough Chapel joined with another church group in Greasbrough. In 2003, they even teamed up with the Greasbrough Methodist church to form a new group called Greasbrough United Church.

The old chapel building was considered very important because of its history and design. After it stopped being a church, it was used as a carpet warehouse. Sadly, the building was badly damaged by two fires in 2012 and had to be taken down in December of that year.

The chapel had strong ties to the Walker family, who were very important business owners in Rotherham. Their family burial place, called the Walker Mausoleum, is still in the chapel's old burial ground and is also a protected historical building.

The chapel was also connected to the Rotherham Independent Academy. This was a school that trained ministers (church leaders) and was started in 1795. The Academy later moved to a new building that is now part of the Thomas Rotherham College.

In 1795, a minister named Dr Edward Williams became the leader at the chapel. He also taught at the new Rotherham Independent Academy. The Walker family, especially Joshua and Thomas Walker, gave a lot of money to help the Academy. Dr Williams was also involved in starting a group in 1794 that later became known as the London Missionary Society, which sent missionaries to other parts of the world.

The church grew a lot during the time of Reverend Thomas Nicholson (1879–1900). The number of people attending services went from 225 to 530! During the tough economic times of the 1920s and 1930s (the Depression), the church helped unemployed men by building a bowling green for them to enjoy. They also held classes to teach skills like boot repair to help people get by.

In the 1950s, the chapel's minister, Cyril Grant, helped start a new church in Herringthorpe. This church is now called the Herringthorpe United Reformed Church.

Early History of the Chapel

The Walker Family: Iron Masters

The Walker family were very important in the history of Masbrough Chapel. Three brothers – Jonathan (born 1710), Samuel (born 1715), and Aaron (born 1718) – moved to the Masbrough area in 1746. Aaron, who had been a farm worker, started experimenting with making metal (smelting and casting) around 1741 with a relative. Samuel was a school teacher who also surveyed land and made sundials.

The brothers soon built factories with furnaces and forges in Masbrough. They built a water-powered forge in 1754 and a blast furnace and rolling mill in 1758. In just a few decades, they turned their business into one of the biggest iron and steel companies in the country! They became the top "Ironmasters" (people who make iron) in the North of England. Did you know that the Cannon used on English ships during the famous Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 were made in the Walker family's factories?

These brothers were the sons of Joseph Walker, a nail maker from Grenoside.

Samuel and Aaron were among the first people to join a big religious movement in the 1700s. Important leaders in this movement included George Whitfield and John Wesley. There were some differences in beliefs among the people in this movement. Samuel and Aaron followed the teachings of Whitfield, which were a bit different from John Wesley's ideas.

John Thorp's Story

John Thorp had an interesting experience that changed his life. He was with a group of friends in a pub, and they decided to make fun of the serious preaching style of the religious movement. Each person took a turn pretending to preach. John was the last to go, and he was sure he would be the best at making fun of it.

But as John started "preaching," something amazing happened. He stopped joking and began to speak seriously, saying things he had only meant to mock. The people listening became quiet as they realized he was no longer pretending. John's life was completely changed, and he decided to dedicate himself to becoming a real minister.

Starting the Masbrough Church

The Masbrough congregation (the group of church members) officially started around 1760, with John Thorp as their very first minister. In 1762 or 1763, Samuel and Aaron Walker built the first Meetinghouse for the church. John Thorp remained the minister for 16 years until he passed away in 1776.

Name Change of the Chapel

The word "Independent" was removed from the chapel's name in the 1970s. This happened when the church joined the United Reformed Church. After that, it was simply known as "Masbro Chapel" or "Masbro Chapel (United Reformed)."

About the Chapel Building

The Masbrough Chapel building was located at the corner of College Road and Chapel Walk. It was first listed as a building of special interest on October 19, 1951.

The church was established in 1760. Although a date "1777" was on the front window sill, the building was made larger between 1829 and 1830.

It was a red brick building with a Welsh slate roof. It had two floors and a wide porch area on the ground floor with cast-iron columns. Inside, the chapel had galleries (balconies) on all four sides, supported by decorative cast-iron columns. There were many plaques on the walls, including one for the first minister, John Thorp, and several for members of the important Walker family. One plaque for Jonathan Walker (who died in 1807) even had a statue of a man leaning on a broken column.

Ministers of the Chapel

Here are some of the ministers who served at Masbrough Chapel and the years they were there:

• John Thorp (1760–1776)
• Thomas Grove (1777–1793)
• Dr Edward Williams (1795–1813)
• Dr James Bennett (1813-around 1828)
• Clement Perrot (1829–1834)
• Dr William Hendry Stowell (around 1834–1849)
• Alexander Raleigh (1850–1855)
• John Moon Charlton (1856–1857)
• Isaac Vaughan (1858–1865)
• William John Gates (1866–1878)
• Thomas Nicholson (1879–1900)
• Henry William Hill (assistant, 1885–1895)
• James Siddall Drummond (1902–1916)
• John Henry Cox (1918–1924)
• Norman Castles (1926–1935)
• William Silver (1937–1947)
• Ronald Joseph Goldman (co-pastor, 1949–1952)
• Cyril Handel Grant (co-pastor 1949–1952; pastor 1952– around 1958)
• William Unsworth (around 1960–1986)
• John Ashley Hardaker (1990 – ?)