Quote:
Originally Posted by Karateman
Yee Ha...!!!! thanks Susie...I am resting a lot easier now...are you called Susie Holmes by the way?
First ref the Barnes St Bethel,I wrongly assumed everyone meant barnes St in CHURCH ....Doh...Sorry.
I have been talking today with a friend whose grandparents currently live in one of the houses..the right hand side one I think. They moved in 50yrs ago and say the church was not there then.
She confirmed the two houses were apparently connected to the church before it burnt down..precepts as you say.
She also confirmed that there is a cellar under the house in which they discovered a passage which went under where the church had stood and into the cellar of the house on the other side. There is a ghostly rumour that the passage went on all the way to Accy...but it is a rumour at the moment.
She also said that Hyndburn council reclaimed some of the Garden at the front of the buildings to widen Hyndburn rd.... within the last 50 yrs...anyone remember.
My friend will ask he gran to E mail me some pics she has and some more details.
We used to live on Blackburn Rd near the grammar School and mum also worshiped at the Elim church opposite the school.
The great Christian Revival crusades you mention in the area is where she met my father so everything seems to be falling into place time wise.
Maybe the church changed religion to the Bethel faith since most Catholics went to Sacred heart and then when it burnt down she found other places of worship.
My quest goes on...LOL
Phil
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Karateman
Destroyed by fire in 1943 sounds feasible but it was obviously some place of worship as seen from my photos..we have a minister in the pic as well, so I cant fully agree with AB saying it ceased to be a church.
Phil
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No probs Phil, I have time on my hands at the moment, glad to put it to good use and I enjoy digging! No I am not Susie Holmes and I prefer to be called Sue, susie is my nom deplume/alias.
By the way the word is transept not precept, but still don't think those two buildings were part of the actual church, rather served other functions like housing the priest etc.
We should try and find out what happened to the actual church between the catholics leaving in 1869 and the Bethel crusaders appearing in the late 20s/30s. It was still marked as a chapel on the 1890 map - I wonder about other maps after that? The Bethel chapel probably ceased to exist in the late 30s if you read the crusade's history so it could have been a warehouse after that before it burnt down. If that was 1943 it would be right when your friend's grandma said there was no church when they moved in 50 years ago. And I would hazard a guess that your mum moved on before 1943. Those photos suggest late 20s early 30s to me. It definitely seems to have been a chapel then.
Don't know anything about the Elim church so wouldn't know when it opened for business. The road widening seems feasible when you look at the old photo of the church and see how far back the houses seem from the road. As for a tunnel going to Accrington... there are stories like that all over the place...
