Land was bought from John Robinson for £1 0sh 0d in 1839 to build a Primitive Methodist chapel. A chapel was registered as a place of worship in 1861. In 1958 the Society had a membership of 13 and in 1967 it merged with The Wesleyan Methodists. The chapel is now a private home.
The current owner, Tim Scott, is researching the history of the property and so far has come up with the following:
The land for the chapel was bought on 10 July 1839 from a John Robinson of Bents Farm, Thornthwaite for £1.0.0. From the 1841 census, he would have been about 68 at the time.
The purchasers were:
Joseph Ellis, a farmer from Thornthwaite who would have been about 63. A John Ellis who was, I think, his son was living at High House in 1871.
Richard Holmes, a weaver of Thornthwaite, aged 33. He is still on the 1871 census, living at "Fields" but I don't know that property. His son Godfrey is living at Low House in 1881. There are no more obvious descendants in the Thornthwaite census data.
Other purchasers were:
Richard Pullen, an overlooker of New York
Richard Edward Newbould, farmer of Banger Houses
George Myers, weaver of Bramley Head
Francis Darnbrook, lead miner of Greenhow Hill. He is potentially interesting because one of the early Methodists in the dale 100 years before was a Francis Darnbrook of Greenhow Hill.
William Greetham, weaver of Pateley Bridge.
Tim would be interested in any information about the property or any of the individuals or families involved. Even the tiniest snippet would be useful!
If you can make a contribution to the research, please email Tim at timscot@hotmail.com He would be very grateful to anybody who can pass something on.
Background notes compiled using information available from Nidderdale Museum.