Aiskew PM Chapel, Yorkshire

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The present Methodist Church with the Old chapel behind, and the Old Manse in front

Peter Barber, 7/10/12

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First PM Chapel, 1869

Peter Barber, 7/10/12

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Old Chapel, 1869

Peter Barber, 7/10/12

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First PM Chapel, 1869

Peter Barber, 7/10/12

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The Old Manse in front of the first chapel

Peter Barber, 7/10/12

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2nd PM Chapel, built 1922

Peter Barber, 7/10/12

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WW1 memorail on front of 2nd chapel

Peter Barber, 7/10/12

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Aiskew chapels and old manse

Peter Barber, 7/10/12

First Chapel

A Primitive Methodist Chapel was built in 1869, at a cost of £700. Opening sermons were delivered by Rev M Lister and Rev G H Beeley on 6 and 13 February 1870.

Old Manse

The Chapel was located ‘behind the minister’s house’. It is not clear which came first, but I assume the house on the roadside  was acquired as a manse, and the land behind was used to build the chapel. The alignment looks very strange today. Perhaps someone can throw light on the reason for this?

Second Chapel

The present chapel was built in 1922. The Ladies’ Committee, which began in 1912, was instrumental in raising money for the new building, led by Florence Nattrass, the wife of James Nattrass. Other leading figures in the church at this time were W Hudson, J Oyston and J W Kettlewell.

Nattrass Family

James Henderson Nattrass was a local preacher for over 60 years, Sunday School Superintnendent at Aiskew for over 50 years, and a trustee of the chapel. James also served the local community as a member of Bedale Rural District Council 1933-1955, and its chairman in 1948.

Born in Garrowgill, Cumberland, in 1875, he was the son of William Nattras, a tailer and draper, and his wife Mary. At the age of 16 James was apprenticed to a tailer in Middleton, Co. Durham, and about 1896 came to Bedale as a draper’s assistant to Hannah Outhwaite, who had a shop in the Market Place. Here he met Hannah’s daughter Florence, and after he was promoted to manager, they married in 1910.

James and Florence had two sons, Kenneth and Irving Outhwaite, and Irving became assistant organist at Aiskew Methodist Chapel.

The Church today

Aiskew Methodist Church, where Rev Kathleen Wood is the current minister, is still a worshipping community today.

Source

Mike Scanlon, Reflections of Bedale, 2010