Goodshaw Chapel

English Heritage's only Nonconformist place of worship, this atmospheric Baptist chapel displays a complete set of box-pews, galleries and pulpit dating from c. 1742 to 1809. A festival of hymns and sermons is held on the first Sunday in July.

History

East Lancashire was an early centre of religious dissent in England. In the early seventeenth century the region was noted for its strong dissenting tradition; after 1690, when non-conformists (Christians who did not conform to the Church of England) secured freedom of worship, a multitude of meeting places for their congregations appeared. In the early eighteenth century these were often barns or private houses, but by the 1740s purpose-built chapels were more common.

Architecturally the presentation of these buildings was invariably plain and simple, partly to distinguish them from Anglican churches and partly because they were built by the congregations themselves, using local materials and with limited funds.

The Baptists established a meeting at Lumb, east of Goodshaw, in 1742. This soon united with a group of Wesleyans, and in 1760 the combined congregation built a new chapel at Goodshaw, using materials from an older chapel. The pews were reputedly brought across the moor from Lumb on the shoulders of the men.

Today Goodshaw Chapel stands beside a narrow lane, with a housing estate down the hill, but in 1760 this was the main Burnley road, with few houses nearby. Such places – accessible from farms and cottages over a wide area – were typical of early nonconformist places of worship.