Woodlands Chapel
We would like to share the story of Woodlands Chapel with readers of this newsletter. Many, I am sure will already know something about us, and many more will have noticed the building set in a field above the A57 on the Snake Pass.
We celebrated 150 years in 2018 and during that year were both looking forward and back. Forward asking what, if any, might be the future of the chapel and back to discover an amazing story.
It seems probable that the story of faith in this community dates back to the seventeenth century and to the work of the ministers who defied the Acts of Uniformity, gave up their livings and pursued an itinerant ministry braving great dangers, but forming congregations that met in remote locations for secrecy. Parallel to this the barn along the road at Alport is mentioned in William Bagshaw’s time as being ‘a well known centre of dissent’. Hutchinson, who visited the Woodlands in 1809, says of Alport, where the lovefeast is held : ‘It consists of two farm houses by the side of a rivulet, and at the foot of some high craggy rocks called Alport Castle. The Methodist preachers regularly attend this place every Sunday, where they collect a small congregation from the scattered houses in the Woodlands.’
It was because of the faith of his tenants that the then Duke of Devonshire made the land available and provided the stone with which the residents built the chapel themselves. This arrangement was made for the benefit of “members of the Wesleyan Methodist Communion”.
Sunday school records from the 50’s show around 20 children attending alternate Sundays regularly. The Centenary celebrations in 1968 show a huge marquee, a brass band, the Duchess of Devonshire and a throng of residents. By the time we moved here in 1989 services had recently moved from being monthly to only 4 seasonal services a year. These were still well attended and much was made of cleaning and decorating Chapel and putting on a tea for the many who returned for these occasions.
Over the next thirty years, the Chapel fell into poor repair and many of the regulars were no longer with us. The community rallied and repaired the building and to mark the 150 year anniversary we set up a facebook page and a blog so that people could find out when services are and keep in touch. However congregations remain small and for a number of years we have been looking for a way forward.
Before the pandemic we had generous support to enable us to make Chapel more accessible by making a proper path across the field and renovating the unusable toilet building. We were refused building regs. Then the pandemic struck and interest waned still further. We are prayerfully seeking a future path for the Chapel. We would be happy to try again to get the permissions that we need to be able to welcome people comfortably but feel that the building needs to have a purpose going forward beyond the 4 services a year.
In the meantime we would like to invite anyone who is interested to attend any of our 4 seasonal services. Looking back through our visitor’s book which was presented to Chapel in 1968 the Chapel has been been supported by members of other Chapels from as far away as Glossop, Sheffield and Bakewell as well as those in the Hope Valley. Our services tend to be quite traditional depending on who is taking each one and with tea and cake served afterwards.
The dates and times can be found on our facebook page and on our blog :
https://www.facebook.com/hopewoodlands/
https://woodlandschapel.wordpress.com/
Judy Skelton
Woodlands Methodist Church 