Hyde Chapel 1708-1846

These images are from The Annals of Hyde.

In 1708, on an estate belonging to an ancestor of the Thornelys, the original chapel at Gee Cross was built largely under Presbyterian influence. The district at that time contained only a few scattered farmers, and there was no other place of worship in the township. For nearly 100 years the chapel remained the only place for public worship in Hyde, until in 1814, the Independent Chapel was built on the site now occupied by the Mechanics' Institute.

The original Hyde chapel was a low building of stone with a small flat gallery entered by an outside stone staircase. "It was fitted up," says Mr. Hibbert, "with wooden benches without backs, standing on an earthen floor, which in wet weather was covered with rushes." Among the first trustees the following names occur : Thornely, Shepley, Ashton, Brook, Mottram, Hegginbotham, Harrison, Sidebotham, Gee, and others, showing the ancestors of the principal Hyde families to have been concerned in the erection of this old and interesting place of worship. That the chapel flourished in its earlier years is evident from the fact that a return made in 1715 states that "at Hyde, John Cooper had 674 hearers, 10 gentlemen, 39 tradesmen, and 70 yeomen, including 65 voters for the county."

The present chapel is built of stone and is of most beautiful appearance. Its style is partly early English and it consists of a nave with north and south aisles and chancel, and a fine tower and spire rising to the height of 145 feet. The nave is divided by rows of clustered pillars from which spring moulded arches which support the clerestory. The chapel took two years to build and cost £7,500. Upon a stone tablet over the north door is this inscription :

This House of Prayer, standing near the site of a chapel built A.D. 1708, was erected A.D. 1846 by the descendants of the founders, and dedicated to the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the protection of that Act of Public Justice, 7 and 8 Vict. c. 45, which secures to non-subscribing dissenters peaceful possession of the Chapel and Endowments of their pious forefathers.

The top image is a copy of the painting of the 1767 church which can be seen inside the church.

Compare the present print from the 1890s with my photograph from early Spring, 2009.