Norristhorpe (Ebenezer) Primitive Methodist Chapel, Yorkshire

The 'Rubbing Board Chapel'

As early as 1855 there were references in the minutes of the Dewsbury PM circuit to occasional services being held at ‘Doghouse’ or Norristhorpe, a village near Heckmondwike, on the A62 between Huddersfield and Leeds. Services were held regularly in a cottage at Balm Fields from September 1883 within the Heckmondwike (Batley Road) circuit. A ‘tin’ tabernacle’ made of corrugated iron and therefore known locally as the ‘Rubbing Board Chapel’ was bought from a PM society in London and brought to Norristhorpe in 1887. The Primitive Methodist magazine of 1888 records the laying of the foundation stones offering “before this young and growing church the prospect of an enlarged usefulness.”

In 1906 the tin chapel was replaced on the same site by a stone built church which was known as ‘Ebenezer’.

The church closed in 2004, at which time it was in the Birstall and Spen circuit. It has now been converted into a house.

Source

Information from Dr Gordon Terry (2006). See also G Terry, ‘The Rubbing Board Chapel at Norristhorpe’, typescript (copy at Englesea Brook Museum).

A teaplate from Norristhorpe PM Chapel is in the collection at Englesea Brook Museum  [ENBPM:1994.083]

Primitive Methodist magazine 1888 January page 60

 

Comments about this page

  • West Yorkshire Archive Services :
    ref. WWN162/C439/14, Norristhorpe, Ebenezer, Primitive Methodist, trustees minutes 1909-1932, continued. Papers for the sale of chapel 2004-7. Other documents.

    Kind regards, Ray & Marie.

    By Raymond E. O. Ælla. (13/06/2022)

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