Railways and Religion in the Western Dales
A trail of a dozen small, simple and serene chapels, churches and meeting houses in the western dales whose existence is linked to the history of the railways.
Imagine the now tranquil areas around Sedbergh, Dent, Tebay and Ravenstonedale were once echoing with the noise of the 19th century growth of the railways.
Understand the lives of the thousands of migrant workers known as navigators or ‘navvies’ who came with their families to build the railway lines, many of which are long gone along with their once-vibrant stations.
Visit some of the Christian missions that were built to serve these hard working people and are testament to their struggles.
THE ‘BREAKAWAY’ CHURCHES
HOW THEY CAME TO BE
In the mid-seventeenth century, George Fox (1624-91) led a group of believers in the northern fells and dales who criticised the established Church and its hierarchical structure and worship. Out of this grew the Religious Society of Friends, often referred to as Quakers. They gathered in homes for worship until the first northern Meeting House was built at Brigflatts in 1675.
Sixty years later, John Wesley (1703-91) a Church of England clergyman, was at the centre of a movement seeking to re-energize the nation’s religious life. They became known as Methodists. Wesley gathered the followers into small groups for spiritual development and mutual care, ministered to by travelling and local preachers. He never intended to create a schism in the Church of England, but the end of the eighteenth century Methodism had become a separate church.
By 1811 Primitive Methodism emerged in the north, as a response to the feeling that, with the decline of open-air preaching, the Wesleyans had lost their earlier enthusiasm and vigour. Sometimes called ‘Ranters’ they had a greater appeal to the lower classes particularly potters, miners and workers on the land.
Methodism was spread by travelling preachers from the north east and had a lasting relationship with the railway workers. In 1932 Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists bodies joined together with the United Methodists (a previous grouping) to form The Methodist Church. Some Quakers later became Methodists, attracted by the lively preaching and hearty singing, or because they found the expectation that they should marry within their own fellowship too restrictive.
Churches and social justice
Both Quakers and Methodists emphasised a disciplined life style coupled with a concern for the community and social justice. Some Quaker industrialists built homes and facilities for education and leisure, such as at Nenthead. They were early leaders in prison reform and pacifism. The Methodists in this part of Cumbria were significant providers of welfare and spiritual help to the railway workers. Education and care of children and the elderly were a feature of their work. Methodism also played a large part in forming Trade Unions and the beginning of the Labour Party. Many of the remaining non-conformist faith buildings in the dales herald from the 19th century to cater for the changing spiritual needs of the local population and to address the needs of its new migrant population.
Mission to the ‘navvies’
Over 6,000 ‘navvies’ laboured in some of the worst weather England can offer to construct the Settle to Carlisle line. Built 1870-1876, it was one of the most difficult railways to construct in the UK. Its 73 miles include 20 viaducts and 14 tunnels cut by hand through steep, often boggy, isolated and exposed countryside.
The navvies arrived with a reputation for lawlessness from the earliest days of canal and railway construction and the national newspapers decried their ‘moral degradation’. They were doubly disliked because many people opposed the railways believing they despoiled the countryside. Local police forces increased their strength in the towns along the railway line in order to deal with the anticipated difficulties.
Tramping from job to job, navvies and their families lived and worked in appalling conditions, often for years on end. The huge shanty towns built for the Midland Railway to house the navvies and their families afforded little shelter against the elements.
The rough timber and turf huts alongside the bridges, tunnels and cuttings typically had 3 rooms: one for the workman and family, one for lodgers providing income and one for cooking. The camps became complete townships featuring post offices and schools. The remains of one such camp, Batty Green, can be seen near Ribblehead.
Conditions were unsanitary and overcrowded, the 1871 census lists 15 residents including 9 railway workers in one hut. Shift working on the viaducts resulted in “hot bedding”. A community of around 1,000 railway workers and family members lived in the Ribblehead-Blea Moor area around that time. The Sedbergh Medical Officer of Health reported that intestinal and lung diseases were common due to the lack of drains and sewers. The Parish registers at Chapel-le-Dale which recorded just 2 burials a year before 1870 show a rise to over 50 annually during the following 6 years. Some workers and their families were killed or injured by explosions such as in 1874 when a mother and child were crushed by a locomotive in the construction work.
The Christian Church was concerned for the moral and spiritual well-being of the lawless navvies. Initially the Church believed them to be a disruptive force, posing a sexual and racial threat to the nation. Local and national Missions to navvies had developed from the 1840s. During the construction of the Settle to Carlisle railway the Midland Railway Company provided a wooden structure for use as a school, reading room and chapel at Hawes Junction, and in 1870 sponsored a mission hut at Dent Head. The company helped pay for scripture readers to preach against drunken violence and church leaders began to build churches and chapels in the path of the railways. Local clergy took the lead, firstly non-conformists and then Anglicans. Missions gave women, particularly vicars’ wives and daughters, some independence and a chance to fulfill their Christian duty.
By the 1880s, attitudes to navvies had changed. People finally recognised that their immorality was not inherent but a result of their difficult conditions, their susceptibility to disease was caused by poor living conditions and their drinking encouraged by their employers who paid them in the pubs! Navvies were now seen as the heroic builders of England.
All the churches and chapels included are open daily throughout the year unless indicated otherwise. Each provides further information about its own history and its locality. There are many others churches and chapels of all denominations in the area and we hope you will visit them as you pass.
