Foulsyke Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was built between 1898 and 1899 due entirely to the efforts of one man, Thomas Hurst, who was only 27-years-old when work began.
Thomas Hurst
Over £150 toward the building cost was raised by public subscription. The original list of subscribers has survived.1 Three stones, in the wall of the chapel, carry the initials RT, WR, and EW. These seem to refer to three of the largest contributors to the fund: Robert Tinniswood of Rose Bank, Dalston and W Redmayne and E Westmorland both of Carlisle. John Williamson of Maryport and W Walker of Whitehaven also made substantial contributions. Most of the money came in relatively small sums from the local farming families.
Thomas Hurst was born in 1871 and lived at Fern Bank, Pelutho. He married Sarah Ann Wilson of The Hill, near Abbeytown. Around 1904, he leased the Aspatria auction mart from the Council there. He ‘conducted the business with great efficiency . . . and had become widely known, loved and respected by a large circle of business friends’.2 He was also a member of the Holm Cultram Urban District Council. His main interest in life, however, was the Foulsyke Chapel. He was particularly devoted to the Sunday School and the Band of Hope. He was a local preacher in the Wigton Methodist Circuit.
His work there came to a sudden end when he died, of pneumonia, at the age of 35 in November 1906. His funeral service, held in the chapel, was crowded. The procession included ‘30 conveyances’. The congregation sang ‘Jesu, lover of my Soul’ and ‘Rock of Ages’. In his address, the Rev J Green hoped that Thomas Hurst’s “many kind words and actions and his blameless life might lead others to the Saviour.” Thomas was buried in the Congregational Cemetery at Aspatria.2 At the time of his death, his widow Sarah Ann, was pregnant with the couple’s second son, Thomas. Their first child, John, was just eight.
Some months later, a memorial tablet to Thomas Hurst was unveiled in the chapel. Speaking at the ceremony, Alderman Francis Grainger of Abbeytown said he was proud to think that Thomas had been a member of his own Sunday School class and of his mother’s Band of Hope. Charles Hawkins of The Hydro, Silloth, a fellow local preacher, said, “His consistent humility and obliging nature made him a man to be admired. He was anxious to get the Foulsyke Chapel established in order that the young men might be helped to withstand the peculiar temptations to drink and wrongdoing which then existed in the district.”3
Following her husband’s death, Sarah Ann Hurst took over his work at Foulsyke. She was to be the mainstay of the chapel for the next forty years.
Sarah Ann Hurst
She sold the lease on Aspatria auction mart and moved back to live with her parents at The Hill. This arrangement didn’t last for long and she soon moved, with her two young children, to a terraced house in Abbeytown, next door to Little’s, the bakers. From here, whatever the weather, she cycled the fives miles (8Km) to Foulsyke and back every Sunday.
From the early 1900s until 1947, she was a Class Leader and the Chapel Steward as well as Sunday School Superintendent. Her younger son, Thomas, took over his father’s duties as Society Steward until 1929, when Sarah Ann assumed this office as well.4
It was Sarah Ann who instituted the ‘Service of Song’ which became a regular feature of the Foulsyke calendar. She would always take the chair. A regular soloist was Jenny Holliday of Hill House, whose family later became deeply involved in running the chapel. Jenny’s daughter, Nellie, sang duets with Margaret Marr (neé Creighton) – usually from the Sankey and Moodey Hymnal. They were joined by Ethel and Hilda Hornsby who also sang duets and John Leason from Cobble Hall, remembered as ‘a young lad with a lovely voice’. Jenny Holliday was also the regular organist at the chapel.
Interior of the chapel
Sarah Ann Hurst finally retired from her chapel duties, at the age of 72, in 1947. She moved to Hove Cottage in Skinburness, near the hotel. She then attended the Silloth Methodist Church but always made her way to Foulsyke for special occasions. She was present at the chapel’s diamond jubilee celebrations in 1958 when 170 people crowded into the chapel to hear addresses by Rev Ernest Hardy, Chairman of the District, Rev W H Mason, a former circuit minister, and Rev A J Wiffen, the current minister. The chairman for the proceedings was Dickie Thompson of Wigton, a local preacher who had a long association with Foulsyke. The celebrations concluded with a supper at Foulsyke Farm. 3 Sarah lived until 1960. The following year, a tablet was dedicated to her memory in the chapel.
John and Jenny Holliday lived with their family at Hill House, near Aldoth, just about a mile from Foulsyke. They had been members of the chapel for many years and, following the retirement of Sarah Ann Hurst, they began to take a very active part in its life. They had one daughter and five sons.
Their daughter, Jane Ellen, was always known as Nellie. She became the chapel caretaker and was also Communion Steward, a Chapel Steward and the Guild Secretary.4 She cleaned the chapel and opened and closed it for services. There was no mains water supply until 1953. Nellie had to go to the farm to fetch it. There was an old iron stove on which a kettle could be boiled. This was also used for tea when refreshments were required.
Nellie is remembered very fondly by all the former members. Not only for her work in the chapel but in her role as the ‘Local Newspaper’. Victor Parrish says she was a fine Methodist but remembers one occasion when she was heard swearing at her hens! She now lives, with her brother Dan, in Abbeytown.
The Holliday boys all took an active role at the chapel. Len was the Church Treasurer and, like his brother John, was a local preacher in the Wigton Methodist Circuit; both were trained at Cliff College in Derbyshire. Stanley succeeded his mother as the chapel organist and also often played at the Aspatria and Abbeytown churches. William was also an active member. Dan, alone of the brothers, was not a regular; he usually travelled to the Dalston chapel, where he was the organist.
The Hollidays were assisted in running the church by Alice Parrish and her son Victor who lived just up the lane at Keld View. Alice was the Sunday School Superintendent for around forty years and also Home Missions Secretary and Treasurer, and the Overseas Missions Secretary and Treasurer. Victor was a Church Steward and played the organ for the Sunday School and occasionally at chapel services. He taught at the Sunday School with his mother. In 1953, Alice Parrish raised money to build a toilet and coalhouse and to have the chapel redecorated.
The Parrish family. l to r: Harold Harrison Parrish, Alice Parrish, Norman Graham (son of Margaret Annie Graham, played cricket for Kent), Margaret Annie Graham (neé Harrison, sister of Alice), Victor Parrish, Joseph William Harrison (brother of Alice). 1958.
In former days there was a proper Sunday School Anniversary with a platform erected at the front of the chapel and around 24 pupils taking part. Each pupil would sing a solo, take part in a chorus or perform a recitation.
Steven Lightfoot, aged 8
By the mid 1970s, there was only one pupil left – Stephen Lightfoot from Smart Hill. Victor and his mother established a mobile Sunday School service for him. They took their car, a 4-wheel Reliant Rebel, to the farm with the school books and taught Stephen on the back seat. He remembers being particularly annoyed when they arrived at 11am one Sunday morning, and he had to leave his work in the hayfield to join them in the car for his lessons!
The Reliant Rebel
The Harvest Festival was always the highlight of the year. George Hewitson, a printer from Aspatria, always took the Sunday evening service. On Monday there was a short service followed by an auction of the harvest gifts. Both were conducted by Willie Morton, a local preacher from Mawbray. Willie had a very powerful set of lungs; due to the frequent use of the phrase in his sermons, he was known as Willie ‘And yet’ Morton.
A typical Sunday congregation in the 1960s would consist of around a dozen souls. There would be John Holliday with his wife Jenny, daughter Nellie and her brothers, John, Bill, Len and Stanley; Alice Parrish and her sons, Victor and Harold Harrison Parrish; Ruth Maxwell, Willie Fell, another local preacher, and Alice’s brother, Joe Harrison. Mrs Scoone, of White Lea, Abbeytown was also a regular attender but never became a full member; she died at the age of 98½. Mrs Stamper from High Laws cottage might be there too – she had a little shop in her cottage and sold crisps and lemonade.
A happy occasion at Foulsyke. l to r: Jean Miller (neé Lightfoot); Mary Marshall (neé Lightfoot); Ethel Haile (neé Armstrong); Stanley Holliday; Dickie Thompson, Wigton; Mrs Thompson; Rev. Stanley Garner; Gerald Preston; Victor Parrish; Mrs Garner; Margaret Parrish; Bill Holliday; Nellie Holliday (Chapel caretaker).
Tommy Osborne, the auctioneer, was considered to be the longest-winded preacher. He talked so much that nobody would have him back for tea after the service. He once said, in his sermon: “As sure as I’ve got my bait hanging up there”. This was thought to be a dark hint about the congregation’s lack of hospitality.
Nellie Holliday was the chapel’s Guild Secretary. The Wesley Guild or Fellowship meetings were held on Wednesday evenings. Nellie kept some records in a small note book. This is a typical entry:-
Foulsyke Fellowship, 18/4/74
Hymns: 684, 180, 199, 944.
In the chair: Miss N. Holliday
Solo: Janice Holliday
Recitation: Julie Lapping
Len read the lesson. Matt. 16
Notices: N. Holliday
Len took up collection in aid of Trust Funds
Len spoke on the women going to the tomb on the first day when Christ had risen from the dead.
Closure prayer: N Holliday
Tea and biscuits provided by the ladies given by Janice Holliday and her Dad.
By the early 1990’s, the regular congregation had fallen to between four and six people each week and Foulsyke Chapel finally closed, after the Harvest Festival, on Monday, October 14, 1992. It was later converted into a private dwelling.
On the last page of Nellie’s note book, she has written down her closing prayer for the Fellowship meeting. It seems a good way to finish the story:
Dear Lord, thank you for tonight’s message. May we all feel uplifted by these words.
May we go on our ways in Thy love and strength to guide us homeward.
Help us to be shining lights to help others.
Now, may the grace of God, the Father, be with us as we go our ways.
Amen.
© Peter Ostle, Holme St Cuthbert History Group, MMV.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
This story and the accompanying photographs have been put together with enormous help from:-
Joan Dunmore (neé Graham) of Appleby Magna, Leics.; Margaret Edwards of Cockermouth, grand daughter of Thomas and Sarah Ann Hurst; Bill Holliday of Blackdyke; Nellie (Jane Ellen) Holliday of Abbeytown; Stephen Lightfoot of Wigton; Mary Marshall, (neé Lightfoot) of Silloth; Jean Miller, (neé Lightfoot) of Silloth; Victor Parrish of Carlisle, and others.
REFERENCES:
1. C.R.O., Carlisle. DFCM 9/11 39
2. Obituary, West Cumberland Times, November 14, 1906
3. C.R.O., Carlisle. Undated newspaper cuttings, DFCM 9/11
4. Wigton Methodist Circuit Plan and Directory, various dates.
