Dewsbury Longcauseway United Reformed Church
The following source list was originally available only on paper in one of the West Yorkshire Archive Service offices. It may have been compiled many years ago and could be out of date. It was designed to act as a signpost to records of interest on a particular historical subject, but may relate only to one West Yorkshire district, or be an incomplete list of sources available. Please feel free to add or update with any additional information. |
The church was previously known as Dewsbury Ebenezer Congregational Church and later as Dewsbury United Congregational Church.
A Sunday School was established in 1813 using a room in a building belonging to Solomon Hindle at the corner of Church Street and School Street.
A chapel was built in Longcauseway between 1814-1815 and opened in 1815.
The Sunday School was built behind the chapel in 1822 and the chapel was enlarged in 1839.
The Sunday School was subsequently enlarged in 1848-1850.
In 1882 the chapel was demolished and a new one was built on the same site in 1882-1994.
In 1907-1908 the church amalgamated with Dewsbury Trinity Congregational Church to form Dewsbury United Congregational Church; they continued to use both buildings for a time but had the same minister. From 1921-1922 only the Ebenezer buildings in Longcauseway were used.
A Sunday School was rebuilt on the same site in 1914-1915 and the chapel was threatened with demolition because of plans for the redevelopment of the town centre in the 1960s-1970s.
In 1977 a preservation order was placed on the chapel. The chapel was preserved when all the surrounding buildings, including the Sunday School were demolished for the building of the new shopping centre 1981-1983; a new church hall and meeting rooms were built above the shops behind the chapel.
Between 1981-1983 the congregation held services in Dewsbury All Saints parish church until the chapel reopened in 1983.
The chapel is still in existence in 2009.
Records relating to this church can be found at WYAS: Kirklees under the reference numbers KC911 and KC998.