ST PETER’S CHURCH GILDERSOME
A story of three church buildings……..
The first St Peter’s church in Gildersome was built in 1787. Before that date, if you needed a baptism, wedding, or funeral, you took a hike over the hill to Batley or Morley.
The growing need for a church in Gildersome was highlighted in a survey by the Vicar of Batley in 1764, which showed that Gildersome housed 166 families of approximately 800 people. Of these, 65 families were Church of England, 60 Anabaptist, 23 Methodist, 6 Presbyterians, 1 Quaker family and 11 families with no recorded allegiance.[1]
A disastrous fire was to destroy this first church 86 years later on Saturday 15 February 1873. There was no social media to report the tale in those days, but 48 hours later, the detailed story was picked up by The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer on Monday 17 February 1873: “A passing carter on his way to work between 3 and 4am on the Saturday morning observed flames issuing from the chancel windows and he roused the neighbourhood by his shouts; but the fire spread with such swiftness, that before any measure could be taken to check its progress, the edifice was doomed. The cries of the carter aroused Sergeant Shackleton, the police officer who is stationed in the village and living near the church, his first thought was to save the registers. The policeman obtained the keys from the sexton and they entered and removed surplices, a table and a few chairs from the vestry beneath the tower at the west end of the church, but by the time that this was accomplished, the interior and the roof were ablaze and burning with intense fierceness. The destruction of the church is the more lamentable because a considerable sum had recently been expended upon its renovation…. The destruction was rapidly accomplished. A gas stove had recently been introduced into the space reserved for the organist and it is conjectured that some workmen who were employed in the interior on Thursday, may have left this alight and that by some means or other it ignited the adjoining woodwork. Large numbers of people saw the ruins of the church and the indefatigable vicar, taking time by the forelock, affixed collecting boxes in the churchyard and gathered in not a despicable amount of stray contributions. The loss cannot be fairly computed at much less than £3,500.”
The ‘indefatigable vicar’ referred to in the newspaper report, didn’t let the grass grow under his feet, and the foundation stone of the second St Peter’s church was laid with amazing speed a year later on 19 August 1874 and consecrated in 1876. The replacement church (see image) was a larger building but in raising and enlarging the site, the builders failed to fill in the arched vaults of the first building, and this eventually sounded the death knell of the second church.
Over the next hundred years, the building started to settle on its foundations and although it celebrated its centenary in 1976, the hot summer that year caused a spring beneath the building to divert and water flooded the boiler house. Despite valiant attempts by the small congregation to put this problem to rights, the building became unsafe and uninsurable. The enormous bill to underpin the building led the small congregation to make plans to move their services into the nearby Church School, and the second St Peter’s church building was declared redundant in 1981 and demolished in 1984.
Four years on, and an arson attack destroyed the church school building, and the congregation was left homeless. Their vicar, Revd. Dennis Barraclough had now left and the small congregation were now without a minister, a church building and a church school, which despite valiant attempts, was never to be re-built. But the Gildersome Methodist Church opened their doors and their hearts to the St Peter’s people, invited them to use their building for services, and they worshipped there for nearly four years.
In 1984, the cavalry arrived in the form of the Rev. David Martineau, who left his parish in Jarrow, and was appointed Vicar to the Parish of Gildersome. His arrival was, however, delayed by a cancer diagnosis, and he eventually took up the challenge of a parish without a church building, in 1985.
Under Rev. Martineau’s leadership, the congregation decided to move into the redundant church school annexe, which stood a short distance from the now demolished church and school. This school annexe had been multi-functional, serving latterly as a school annexe housing five year olds, but with a previous life as a woodwork teaching venue, and use during WW2 by the local air raid wardens. But now, with many willing helpers, the two rooms were converted into a small multi purpose hall and licensed for weddings. St Peter’s people had found their new home and led by Rev. Martineau, the congregation grew numerically and spiritually.
The congregation worshipped and grew in the little parish hall, until it became apparent to the PCC and congregation that their over-flowing numbers needed a new building, and after much prayer and research, plans were set in place to build a third church. It was decided that the new church would be a building for community use, and designed by Ashfield Architects of York, the new complex consisted of a worship centre, community room, upper room, two kitchens, a fully equipped office, foyer and toilet facilities, including disabled provision for easy access, and importantly, connected to the old Parish Hall which had been the congregation’s home for so long. It was decided to name it St Peter’s Parish Centre.
During this time, the congregation learned important and humbling lessons about what ‘Church’ really is, and that it was the people of God, not a building, who were the true living stones of ‘The Church’. Fundraising began and the foundation stone of the third St Peter’s church was laid on 28 June 1989 by David Hope, Bishop of Wakefield, who went on to become the Archbishop of York.
The congregation sold a church field (now an estate of Churchgate homes), wrote to every St Peter’s church in the country, knocked on every door in the village to ask for help, and were enriched by the goodness and generosity of Gildersome people and beyond. Coffee mornings and jumble sales were held, sponsored walks and concerts arranged, and the PCC led the congregation by covenanted giving for a period of five years. Within three and a half years, the target was reached and the congregation moved into their new home, mortgage and debt-free, thanks to a faithful God. The church was consecrated on St Peter’s Day, a brilliant, hot summer‘s day in June 1992, by the Rt. Hon Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Wakefield.
The question is often asked - Why is the church the shape it is? Well, the reason lies in the Holy Land. A small group of church members led by David Martineau, went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and visited Capernaum on the North Sea of Galilee. Archaeologists had excavated much of the biblical town and a few yards south from the Synagogue was the home of St Peter. Archaeologists revealed that his home had been converted during the 1st century into a very simple church building – and it was octagonal! And so, the PCC and the Building Appeal Group decided it seemed natural for the new church building to be that shape too. As visitors wander through the church centre, they will see that the building is designed to represent a series of tents – reflecting that church members are a people on the move….
The placement of a baptismal pool in an Anglican church has puzzled many visitors. Since New Testament times when Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan, the Christian community has seen baptism as a symbol by which they express their union with Jesus, believing that Jesus died and rose again for all. And so in baptism, Christians identify with that death and resurrection. So the Baptismal Pool is a symbol of ‘going down’ into the water and emerging from the waters of baptism into a ‘new life’. It is designed to allow for both children and adult baptisms. Children can be baptised (or christened) using the smaller part of the pool, while adults, or children if they so choose, can be fully immersed when the deeper part of the pool is filled.
The Twelve Apostle windows in the third St Peter’s, reflect the twelve men who Jesus chose as His apostles (or disciples), who were ordinary people from all walks of life. He called them to be with him throughout His Ministry and sent them out to preach the Good News and to heal. The twelve were the nucleus of the Church and the foundation on which it was built. The twelve stained glass windows in St Peter’s are dedicated to each of the twelve Disciples, some of which a bit is known, and some of which very little is known. The stained glass artist, Clare Morrissey, made her designs based on the information available.
Peter, the Fisherman, after whom the church is dedicated, became the rock on which Jesus built his church and his window displays a fish. A plain grey glass window depicts Judas, the disciple whose betrayal led to the crucifixion. The windows slant in many different directions – because the twelve apostles that Jesus chose went in many different directions throughout the world.
St Peter’s is dedicated to God in memory of Saint Peter, who was a fisherman, whom Jesus called to become the leader of his team of Apostles. Inside the third St Peter’s church there is a simple wooden tree stump with a boat rope tied to it, with the Bible reference: John 21 verse 3, a symbol reminding the congregation that, like St Peter before them, they are to go out and be fishers of men.
An American Secretary of State once said: “Never let a crisis go to waste”, and the parish had indeed been faced by a crisis; it had lost its church building, its minister, and its church school. But St Peter’s congregation didn’t let that crisis go to waste. With God’s grace and the hard work of the vicar, PCC and congregation, plus the support of so many of the village residents, many of whom didn’t come to church, they raised a third St Peter’s Church to the glory of God in Gildersome. “God’s grace seems to be most wonderful when we are at our wit’s end”, said David Martineau at the time.
[1] D. Barraclough: A History of Gildersome