A CHILLY Horkinstone Baptist Chapel stands in the foreground, alongside the road from Oxenhope to Denholme via Sawood and the Dog and Gun, visible in the distance on the left. This chapel was built in 1836 with accommodation for 300 worshippers. On its demolition 90 years later, its stone was re-used in a new Baptist chapel lower down the hill towards Oxenhope.
Such was the close-knit nature of the Horkinstone community that a century ago its choir included five Sunderlands and four Whitakers. The titles of their introits and anthems, cantatas and songs seem curiously at odds with the reality of a grey industrial village surrounded by hard moors: Daughter of Zion, By Babylon’s Wave, Dreaming of Angels, Orpheus with his Lute, Awake, Aeolian Lyre!
Singers accustomed to battling their way to chapel through rough weather revelled in an idealised nature with Light and Laughing Summer Sky, O, Gentle Wind and Radiant Morn.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here