Ebenezer

The chapel was built in 1777 for John Fawcett on the main turnpike road from Yorkshire to Lancashire when he moved from Wainsgate. The space in front used to be the graveyard. This has shrunk with each widening of the road, but all the gravestones are still under the grass. John Fawcett’s daughter’s grave is on the right, near the door. Near this, upright against the wall, is that of John Foster the essayist, who had been a pupil at Fawcett’s school. Wording on the stones reflects the Calvinist beliefs of the Particular Baptists. One gravestone is of a Henry Riley murdered in 1818 ‘because he became poor’. The building served as a chapel until 1858 and has subsequently been the home of the Hebden Bridge Times, an arts centre and antiques shop.

(To return to the trail description, Click here)