Scot Hay (Hill Top) Primitive Methodist Chapel Leycett Road Staffordshire

This chapel was built in 1876

The chapel was built in a decorative style in red and ochre brick. Date of closure is unknown but in 2015 it has been converted into a dwelling.

 

A few anecdotes about the chapel taken from ‘A Centenary Compendium of the Jabez Stories’ by Wilfred A Bloor.

Scott Hay Chapel had a tremendous influence on the village. One small boy wished he could attend the chapel but he thought he should have respectable clothes to go in. He did not. So each Sunday he watched the children going to Sunday School and wanted more than ever to join them. When the services were held outside on warm summer evenings the singing and the words of the preacher had a lasting impression on him and later he became a preacher himself and finally Pastor of a city church in Minnewauken in North Dakota. This man was Dr Ernest E.Parker. He never forgot how his humble beginnings, in Scot Hay and at the Primitive Methodist chapel, laid the foundations for the rest of his life.

For more than ninety years the Sunday School Anniversary was an important event at the chapel. This was a time for the buying and wearing of new clothes. The Sunday School operated a ‘Clothing Club’ to which the parents contributed weekly. On the day of the Anniversary in May the children dressed in their new clothes and the choir made a tour of the area. This involved a walk of several miles with stops for singing  and breaks for coffee and buns. The celebrations lasted for some twelve hours and included a meal and two services.

At the chapel on cold Sunday nights the old coke boiler was lit and brass oil lamps hung from the ceiling.The harmonium player had to pedal furiously to get volume out of the instrument and the congregation gave shouts of ‘Amen’ ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Praise The Lord ‘throughout the service. The preachers tramped many miles to keep their appointments. One such, was a miner whose body bore the scars of his work underground. He did not need notes from which to preach as he paced up and down the chapel – the pulpit being far too small a space for him.

 

 

Photos taken October 2015

OS Map Ref:118:SJ799476

Comments about this page

  • Some older pictures and the cottage where services held from 1873 before the Chapel was built have been added above.

    The following is based on research for the 1976 Centenary Book produced by my father Wilfred A Bloor (Jabez of the Sentinel) 

    The existence of a preaching place at Scot Hay dates back to the year 1862, although there is some doubt as to where it was. An old circuit plan of that year shows that services were held at 6 p.m. on Sundays and 7 p.m. on Mondays. The circuit extended from Fenton through Stoke, Wolstanton, Newcastle, Silverdale, and on to Onneley, Betley, Madeley, and Wrinehill. There were 20 places of worship, 2 ministers, and 60 local preachers. A Camp Meeting was held at Scot Hay on 6th July, 1862. 

    In the year 1873 Charles and Jane Rogerson (David M Bloor’s great, great, grandparents) opened their home for religious services, and in 1876 negotiations were commenced to build a chapel. The land was bought from Captain Heathcote, the land and deeds costing £56-18-0. The stone-laying ceremony took place on Monday 22nd May, 1876, the stone-layers being Miss R. Tatton, Miss S. Lawton, and Mr. Shaw. After the ceremony a public tea was held in a tent pitched in a field, part of which is now the recreation ground. 

    The building contractor was Mr. Charles Shenton and £550 was paid to him for the erection of the chapel and vestry. There are two possible dates for the official opening — 19th November or 3rd December — the latter date being the most likely. The Sunday School was established in December 1876, and the first Sunday School Anniversary was held on 27th May, 1877, the preacher being Mr. John Wood of Halmerend.

    By David M Bloor (04/01/2016)

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