Religion
In 19th Century Rotherham the parish church was still central to the life of the people of the town. In the early part of the century it was still the custom to ring one of the parish church bells to let people know the time. The 'Hour Bell' was rung in the summer at 5am, 12 noon and 8pm and in the winter at 6am, 12 noon and 6pm. It makes me wonder how the bellringer got up in time.
The bells were a constant charge on the churchwarden's accounts. After the tenor bell fractured again a new peal ten bells was ordered. These cost £1241 2s 8d, but £539 was allowed for the metal in the old bells. They were first rung at Easter 1822.
In 1827 the Statutes Fair, which had traditionally been held in the churchyard, was forced to find another site as the church authorities banned it from church premises.
In the 1840s a new vicarage was built on Moorgate. The old vicarage was used for a time as a Temperance Hall.
The churchyard was closed to further burials in 1854.
The church building was in need of a great deal of work. In 1873 a restoration committee was formed and the architect Sir Gilbert Scott was appointed to carry out the work. The stonework was cleaned and restored, the galleries were removed and the pews replaced in the nave, and the roof mended. The church reopened in April 1875.
The Parish of Rotherham
The parish of Rotherham was a large one and very widespread. Chapels of ease had existed at Tinsley and Greasbrough, and I think at Kimberworth, since the Middle Ages or before. However people still had to travel into Rotherham to get wed. In the days when failure to worship in your local parish church was punished by fines it was a long way to walk from the outer reaches of the parish into town. Further chapels of ease were built in 19th Century Rotherham and as the population of the parish increased, these became independent parishes.
- Greasbrough after 1828
- Thorpe Hesley 1839
- Kimberworth 1843
- Masbrough St John 1864
- Eastwood St Stephen 1874
- Clifton St James 1887
- Brinsworth St Andrew 1885
- Brinsworth St George 1898
Other Parishes in the Rotherham Area
I don't have the full facts about all the changes to the various parishes in the Rotherham area during the 19th Century just a few odd bits of data. The parish church of St Thomas in Kilnhurst opened in 1849 and was presumably a split from Swinton.
Non Conformist Religions
Methodism and other Non-Conformist religions were very strong in Rotherham throughout the 19th Century. There were Primitive Methodists, Wesleyan Reformists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Unitarians, Zion chapels, Ebenezer chapels, Bethesda chapels, gospel halls large and small built in Rotherham itself and in towns and villages right across what is now the Borough of Rotherham. This led to a strong Temperance movement, dedicated to weaning the ordinary working man off his beer and out of the boozer by providing him with places to go where no alcohol was on offer.
Catholicism
Even after it stopped being illegal to take part in any form of Catholic worship in Britain, most of the Catholics around here kept a very low profile. Even when I was at school in the 1960s the Catholic pupils tended to be very quiet about it. Gang loads of Irish navvies were brought over to build the canals and quite a few of them settled in the Rotherham area in 18th Century Rotherham. Rotherham, with its pits, steelworks and factories provided plenty of jobs and opportunities so through 19th Century Rotherham many more Irish folk came to work here. Some years ago I held a straw poll amongst a wide variety of acquaintances and was amazed to find that almost everybody had one or more Irish grandparents or great grand parents (as I do myself). St Bedes Church was founded in 1843.
I realise that this is a very incomplete look at Religion in 19th Century Rotherham but the subject could fill a website in itself so this poor page will have to do.