History
History of the Churches in Treeton
History of Methodism in Treeton
Although there was a Methodist Society at Ulley in 1804 and another at Catcliffe in 1817, it was not until 1850 that Treeton appeared in the record of the Rotherham Circuit as having a membership of 15.
Cottage Meetings
The earliest known meeting place was Manor Cottage towards the end of Church Lane.
It was then transferred to a cottage at Woodlands Farm, on Front Street, opposite the Church Steps, around 1875.
In May 1881 a Board of Trustees was formed to proceed with a scheme for building a new chapel. The Trustees were Henry Wigfield, a former Circuit Steward, Thomas Wigfield, Francis Moody, George Moody. F. W. Rose, W.H. Sheldon. Henry Robinson, John Cox, J. R. Smith, Richard Moody of Whiston, William May, William Wigfield and F. J. Jones. Mr. F. J. Jones was appointed Secretary and requested to prepare plans for the new building. The contract was awarded to Mr. W. Earnshaw for the sum off £540, but the cost of the building was considerably reduced by the fact that the stone was carted free of cost, mostly from the Bole Hill Quarry, but also from a quarry near Ulley reservoir. A coal-fired boiler and hot water heating system was in stalled by Messrs. Wright of Sheffield. The stone-laying ceremony was on Thursday, September 8th, 1891, and was attended by the Rev. H. Hastling, Chairman of the District, and two former Circuit Ministers, the Rev. Alfred Freeman and the Rev. W. T. Armstrong. The building was opened for public worship on January 5th, 1882 by the Chairman of the District.
The first resident minister came to the village in 1894. He travelled to distant appointments on a horse provided by Mr F. Moody, one of the farmers in the village.
Thomas Rossington, a collier, was involved with the Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School. A Minute Book was started in January, 1882. It records that F.J.Jones and himself were appointed Sunday School Superintendents. Thomas had a flair for music and was for some years Choirmaster at the Wesleyan Chapel.
Ministers and Local Preachers
Although the first minister appointed to the Treeton section of the Circuit arrived in 1894 it was not until the December Quarterly Meeting in 1896 that a decision was taken to build a Manse at Treeton. It is very clear from the accounts that the new Manse was not ready for occupation until September 1898. In the meantime, therefore, it was necessary to provide lodgings for the minister, and it would appear that this accommodation was provided by Mr. and Mrs. Francis Moody of Manor Farm. But, however kind and considerate the hospitality may have been it could hardly have been satisfactory from the ministers point of view, and one wonders whether this may have been the reason why the Rev. J. Bicknor Edwards stayed only one year from September 1897.Ministers
| 1894 John Elph Clarke | 1937 A. Cecil Day |
| 1897 J. Bicknor Edwards | 1940 R.Twiston Williams |
| 1898 George E. Davies | 1945 J. L. C. Shrewsbury |
| 1901 Rowland Major | 1948 P. D. Robert |
| 1904 S. P. Bevan | 1951 Herbert G. Hawkes |
| 1907 A.Wilberforce Hardy | 1954 Leonard Hale |
| 1910 John Horden | 1956 Arthur Truswell |
| 1913 George Swaine | 1960 Roland Martin |
| 1916 W. H. Holmes | 1962 David Wright |
| 1918 J. K. Calvert | 1965 David Chadwick |
| 1921 Francis B. Hudson | 1966 Howard 0. Smith |
| 1924 F. W. Smith | 1970 Stuart Gibbins |
| 1927 E. Grieves Smith | 1972 David Howarth |
| 1930 A. Reginald Cole | 1977 Laurence R. Stedeford |
| 1933 Edward Page |
Sunday School
Within days. of the opening of the Chapel on January 5th 1882, a Sunday School Committee was appointed. The members of the Committee were George Moody, John Fern (Sen.). John Fern (Jun.), John Billam, Charles Ceston, Ellen Moody, Maud Moody, Annie Moody, Annie Fern, Frederick J. Jones and Thomas Rossington. The officers appointed were F. J. Jones and Thomas Rossington, (Superintendents) and Thomas Rossington (Secretary).
The Secretary’s report in June 1883 stated that the School was started in March 1882 with about twenty five children. The village at that time was growing apace, and the report for the quarter ending June 1883 stated that In the early years of the twentieth century the School had four classes of the average attendance of scholars had risen to seventy two in the morning session and seventy nine in the afternoon. These remarkable figures call for some explanation. In his address at the ceremony when the colliery enterprise was started in October 1875 the Chairman of the Colliery Company had said We have made provision for education and for spiritual instruction. Both these claims were literally fulfilled, and here was the future Managing Director of the Colliery Company, Mr. F. E. Jones, as Sunday School Superintendent. It is not surprising, therefore, that many miners children found their way to the Wesleyan Sunday School.
So the years went by with evidence in the Minutes of arrangements for the Sermons, as the Sunday School Anniversary was called, the Whitsuntide Tea, Concerts, Band of Hope, Young Men’s Bible Class, Prize Distributions, Teas to be provided for one hundred and fifty persons, etc., and family names of Batty, Blissett, Billam, Boden, Broadhurst, Careless, Ceston, Chadbund, Cheesman, Cloke, Dutson, Fern, Fletcher, Fowler, Frost, Haslam, Hinds, Houghton, Jones, Kyte, Littlewood, Martin, Maxfield, Mayo, Mellor, Moody, Nunn, Pearson, Perry, Radford, Revill, Robinson, Rossington, Sanders, Shelton, Slack, Stewart, etc.
For more than eleven years Sunday School work had been carried on in the Chapel until, in 1893 the new building was available. A stone laying ceremony was on February 16th, 1893, when stones were laid by Mrs. F. J. Jones, Mrs. Francis Moody, Mrs. George Moody and Mr. Alfred Lyth. This building had a large hall two classrooms and a stone-flagged kitchen.
Immediately the Sunday School Committee and Teachers met to consider their resources in terms of teaching staff. The Superintendents were then Edgar Frost, and William Littlewood, and the Secretary Frank H. Frost. In addition to the Young Men’s Bible Class there were twelve Boys classes and eight Girls classes; the number of teachers twenty-eight, of whom some attended on alternate Sundays.Two interesting items which show how times have changed are taken from early records: In 1892 the Sunday School Committee authorised a singing class to be conducted by Mr. Grayson of Woodhouse at a charge of Four Pounds a year, the children to be charged a halfpenny per week in advance. And, from the Board School Log Book in the handwriting of Samuel Fiske, the Schoolmaster, dated 7th August 1895: As the WesIeyan Band of Hope trip takes place tomorrow I have received instructions to close the School this (Wednesday) afternoon instead of Friday.
The enthusiasm of 1893 appears to have given place to a more settled state of affairs so that by 1898, after which there is a gap in the records, the Superintendents were Edgar Frost and Richard Hewlett, Arthur Frost, Secretary, Thomas Rossington - Young Men’s Bible Class Leader. Later on James Stewart shared the superintendency with Richard Hewlett, boys, four of girls, with two senior classes, and there were good attendances for both morning and afternoon sessions. The Sunday School Anniversaries attracted large congregations, the Whitsuntide procession, led by a decorated farm waggon on its tour around the village was a popular occasion, not to mention the Whit-Monday tea for scholars who were asked to bring their own mugs. The Sunday School Concert in the winter-time was also a special occasion.
Each year one day was set apart as a very special day. It was known as Children’s Day when the scholars were urged to make a decision to accept and follow Jesus as Lord and Saviour. It seemed to be a day highly charged with emotion and one remembers a day when a class of ten or eleven-year- old boys listened tearfully to stories of sudden death; a moment of unforgettable terror. Fortunately there were teachers who had other ideas; there was, for instance Charles Ceston who had been a Sunday School teacher from the beginning, a humble labourer, but what a lovely manl Or there was Ida Brown, a gracious and sweet person who not only taught at the Day-School, but enriched the life of the Sunday School. She died in November 1980 at the age of ninety.
In 1913 the Rev. George Swaine started his ministry in the Treeton section and one of the things he did was to urge the Sunday School to make proper provision for a Primary Dept., even to the point of providing some, if not all, the funds for the necessary furnishings.
Treeton Football Club, 1922
After the First World War the Sunday School maintained its range of classes for many years, and the Society was fortunate in having’the services of Walter Banks who came to the village from the Doncaster area. He was a staunch Methodist, a keen Bible student, with an exceptional appreciation of the Methodist Hymn Book. He was also the kind of person capable, in an emergency, of going into the pulpit to deliver a well prepared address. As in a former generation the members of his Bible Class found recreation on the football field and competed successfully in the Rotherham Sunday School League.
Treeton Methodist Sunday School Anniversary Tableau, 1936
In 1928 it was reported that the Sunday School had 160 scholars, includ ing the Senior Department, and that there were 16 teachers. Senior classes were led by Mrs. Jessie Hewlett and Robert Jones and later by the village schoolmaster, George T. Dumville.
Youth Activities
In 1896 the Sunday School Committee approved the formation of a Cricket Club, and in the first decade of the present century a very successful football team competed in the Rotherham Sunday School League. This was drawn from members of the Brotherhood.
After the First World War a Young Men’s Bible Class was led by Walter Banks and, as a weekday activity this class provided a successful football team which competed in the Rotherham Sunday School League.
It was to the credit of the members of the Senior Dept. of the Sunday School, led by Mrs. Jessie Hewlett and Robert Jones, that in 1936 a few young people formed the nucleus of a group which met on Saturday even ings to play table tennis. They were not an exclusive group and, quite naturally, they were joined by friends from other denominations; Anglican, Roman Catholic, Baptist and others. Their activities included indoor games, occasional hikes, talks by invited speakers leading to free discussion, a well conducted library and play reading. Actually they were the winners in a play reading competition organized at Circuit level. During the Second World War they adapted themselves to the emergency and took their turn in arranging Sunday evening services which attracted congregations of 60 or more. Eventually the group came to be regarded as the Treeton Methodist Social Club
The Manse
In 1894 the Methodist Conference was asked to appoint a fourth minister to the Circuit, and the Circuit undertook to provide a house within four years. After considerable discussion on the location of the Manse it was decided that it should be at Treeton so that the minister might have more direct over sight of the village causes on that side of the Circuit. The cost of the building was £598, towards which the Treeton Society subscribed £149, Catcliffe £38, Swallownest £25, Fence £25, Whiston £23 and Aughton £5. The cost of the furnishings was £271. The brick boundary wall was built in 1900 at a cost of £15 16s 6d. by J. E. Foers.
The building in 1900, with Parish Church in background
Subsidence
Chapel
For most of the past hundred years the Trustees had to deal with problems of damage to the property caused by subsidence due to mining. A report by independent Mining Engineers in 1963 stated - There has been, from past mining of long ago, a permanent diminuition in the standard of the property ... Information supplied by the Coal Board to the Trustees on past mining shows that the last mining likely to have caused movement was in 1941. Between 1897 and 1941 the working of at least six seams could have affected the premises by either complete or partial extraction of the underlying coal ... All the damage is due to workings dating back to 22 or over 60 years ago. (that is to 1941 or before 1903).In this situation one can understand the embarrassment which the Trustees would have felt if they had pressed their legal claims. Several of the Trustees were colliery officials and the Trust Secretary, Mr. Charles Frost, was a senior member of the Colliery Company Staff, in almost daily contact with the Managing Director. More than that, the Managing Director, Mr. F. J. Jones, was a Trustee from 1882 to 1911 and had, in fact, been responsible for the design of the chapel building.
So when the National Coal Board were approached on the question of compensation in 1964, they correctly described the situation before nationalisation when they stated: The Lessees (i.e. the Colliery Company), under the Leases granted by the Duke of Norfolk’s Estate, were required to make full compensation for damage to the surface (including buildings) by reason of their mining operations, but it appears that the Trustees of the church property refrained from claiming against the Colliery Company in respect of the severe damage which was caused by the successive workings. The Secretary of the Trust, therefore, had the unenviable task of maintaining a somewhat tenuous and unwritten compromise between the Trustees and the Colliery Company over many years. The Colliery Company, on their part, appear to have supplied coal free of charge over a period of sixty five years; they gave a small annual donation to the church; and the services of their Property Agent and other officials were always available, together with repair materials on many occasions. Nevertheless, there can be little doubt that the compromise favoured the Colliery Company rather than the Trustees. The first mention in the Minutes of damage to the property by subsidence was in 1911.In 1931 the Trust Secretary reported having informed the Duke of Norfolk's Agent of the considerable movement taking place due to subsidence. It was evident that urgent steps should be taken to strengthen the chapel building. The work was undertaken by the Colliery Company’s Property Agent, Mr Granville Lister, and very skillfully carried through. A strong steel frame was fixed around the inner walls and bolted to holding plates on the outside. Each corner of the steel frame was strengthened by additional members across the angles and at each end of the building steel channels were embedded in the foundations to support the gables. Even so the end walls of the chapel remain permanently distorted, and there is little doubt that if the work described had not been done the building would by this time have become unsafe. The cost of the scheme, recorded in the accounts, was £160, towards which the Colliery Company subscribed £70, the Duke of Norfolk Estates £30, and the congregation £60.
Sunday School
Treeton Methodist Sunday School Anniversary Programmes, 1949-1951
This building covered an area of 53’ 0” x 44’ 6” plus a small porch 10’ 0” x 6’ 0”. It had a life of 74 years, and was demolished in 1967. It provided a large hall, two classrooms and stone flagged kitchen. As early as 1919, following frequent complaints about the condition of the building (a large area of plaster had fallen from the ceiling during a Sunday afternoon session), the inner walls and ceiling of the hall were lined with matchboard at the expense of the Duke of Norfolk Estates; the cost was £70. The roofs of the hall and classrooms sloped down into a gully for the drainage of rainwater and, as the building came under stress, the drainage was damaged and, after heavy rain, large quantities of water percolated through the structure down to floor level. The result was that the classroom floors and large areas of the hall floor rotted. More than that the hall floor was badly out of level and one of the gable ends sloped inwards. It was obvious that the Trustees were unable to restore the building to a desirable condition and that effective action was needed.
In 1965, with the generous help of Messrs. Bury & Walkers, Solicitors of Barnsley, an approach was made to the National Coal Board with a view to compensation for subsidence damage. The Board’s response was generous. After reminding the Trustees that the Board had no legal responsibility because of the lapse of time they nevertheless offered a grant of £1500 which was accepted.
