Bolton Brow Methodist
The beginnings of Bolton Brow Church go back to the late 18th century. The chief founder was one John Walker, a Methodist Manufacturer from Dewsbury, who came to reside at Sterne Mills, where he opened his house as the first place of worship. When the canal was being cut from Sowerby Bridge to Salterhebble the Mearclough Estate was broken up, and Walker purchased Mearclough Bottom where he resided until his death in 1816. At that time the preaching place was transferred to a nearby hayloft. In 1796 the society had 20 members and adherents. It is said that the present Walker Lane is named after John Walker, because of the number of times he walked along it to see the progress on a new chapel being built in 1806 at its junction with Bolton Brow. These were the first purpose built premises of the society. However they were rather small, so in 1832 a new building was erected further down Bolton Brow. This is the building which is still standing today, although it has now been converted for residential use. Opened in June 1832, the new chapel was initially shorter than it is now, but the frontage is still in its original state.
As is well known, Methodism and Organs did not see “eye to eye” until well into the 19th century. At Bolton Brow it took until 1858 for the first organ to appear. It was by William Holt of Leeds, who had built a number of Organs in Calderdale by then, probably the best of these had been at Square Chapel in the 1840's. (The splendid case from this organ is still in existence, in Altrincham Parish Church.) Holt had already worked in Sowerby Bridge by 1858, at West End Independent Chapel, where he had rebuilt an organ by Taylor of Halifax. His organ at Bolton Brow had 16 stops and 885 pipes, and was opened on April 30th 1858. It had the distinction of being only the third organ in the Calderdale region to be blown by hydraulic power, in the form of one of Holt’s patent engines. The first had been Square Chapel, and the second was the house organ in Well Head Mansion, Halifax.
In 1868, the chapel was enlarged by extending it two bays further south towards the canal. After this time Holt’s organ may have seemed inadequate, so by 1896 plans were afoot to replace it. The history of the way this happened is fascinating, but too involved to relate here. Suffice it to say that the new organ was built by J.J.Binns of Bramley and was opened in 1897 by Dr.A.L.Peace, city organist of Liverpool at the time. At the time of the organ’s installation, a new recess had been created to house it, with additional meeting rooms on either side and a much lower floor. The old organ was transferred to the next door Sunday school where it remained until well after the second world war. The new organ was also hydraulically blown, using one of “Binns Patent” engines, which were actually made by a firm called Farrar Whiteley of Leeds. This engine remained in use until the organ was removed from the building in 1979 when it was moved to Christ Church, Sowerby Bridge. This gave the church the distinction of never having had an electric blower in its entire history, the water engine must have been one of the last remaining in working order in England by 1979. The Binns organ had 36 speaking stops, with most of its metal pipes being made of spotted metal, a very unusual feature. The case and pulpit were made by Fielding and Bottomley of Halifax, to a design based on a similar organ in Greenfield Chapel, Manningham, Bradford.