Early History of Swanland

Swanland is not the most ancient village. It is not mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) although there were certainly some dwellings in the area at that time. Swanland was divided and was part of North Ferriby parish and part of Kirkella parish.

The origin of the name is not known. One suggestion is that a Danish chieftain, Sweyn, invaded the Humber estuary and built a stronghold and watchtower here. He would certainly have had excellent views to east and west and over the Humber. Hence Sweynlond and by corruption Swanland. The other suggestion is more prosaic and just as likely - Swanland means the land of the swan. Indeed swans were common here in the middle ages and were here until very recently. The earliest mention of Swanland is in the Chronicles of Meaux Abbey (1201). Meaux Abbey - on the road from Wawne to Routh - housed monks who sold to Edward I the land which became Kingston upon Hull. Then the village was referred to as Swanneslond.

According to the Church's records, in an outline history beautifully written by Revd J.E.Whitehead, a Chantry was founded in 1332. This was a Chapel at Ease to the Priory at North Ferriby and was served by one of the priests from the Priory. In 1942 a lead bulla of Pope Clement III (1187-1191) was found in the back garden of one of the houses in Chantry Way, off Westfield Lane which suggests that this was perhaps the site of the Chantry.

It is part of our English history that Non-conformists (or Dissenters as they were then known) suffered persecution from Elizabethan times. Especially in the middle of the seventeenth century, particularly after the return of Charles II to the throne, those who would not conform to the restored Episcopal Church (ie governed by bishops) had to worship in secret. If anyone was caught worshipping in a way that did not accord with the Episcopal Prayer Book, they were fined or imprisoned or transported overseas for seven years, but not to New England where the dissenters had established a settlement.

The New Chapel Building.

It was in 1803 that a new chapel, the present one, was built on the site of the old. The new chapel was attached at its north end to the original school building. The schoolroom foundations can still be seen in the cellar of the Institute. The attractive stone staircase to the gallery was then outside. The two porches were added in 1840 and the two adjoining vestries in 1854, the north vestry being built on the site of the schoolroom.

In 1928 the church was entirely refurbished under the guidance of Mr Louis Calvert. He was a joiner in the village and also a Chapel Deacon. The pulpit apse, a gift of the Westerdale family, was built and the old box pews replaced with unstained Austrian oak pews. The pulpit donated by the Blossom family was made and fitted by Mr Calvert personally. The communion table and chairs were given by Mrs Whitehead and her daughters.

Between 1968 and 1988 the roof of each building was stripped, felted and re- slated. The creche was added in 1989. The north vestry was extended, new lavatories built and the room behind the pulpit added in 1990.

In 1914 the Institute and reading room was built on the site of the chapel school playground, a gift of Sir James Reckitt who lived at the Manor. He supplied the church with electric light which was generated at the Manor. The pot insulators can still be seen in the south porch wall where the cable entered the church and the original telegraph poles which carried the cable from the Manor to the church, are still round the back of the pond.

The original deeds were badly damaged by flood water when they were stored in a solicitor’s cellar in the old part of Hull. Dated June 25th and June 26th 1694, they state that William Shaw, yeoman of Swanland, sold for five shillings (25p) land for the building thereon of the chapel and school. The Church Baptismal Register shows the wide area served - Swanland and Skidby, Willerby, Rowley and Walkington. The first official minister was Emanuel Dewsnop.

The Rev John Angier became a Unitarian during his pastorate at Swanland which started in 1740. (Unitarians embrace Universalism and reject the Doctrine of the Trinity thus rejecting John 1:1-15.) Because of this a number of his congregation left in a body and worshipped in another building, thought to be the cottages 30 & 32 Main Street. They had their own minister as shown on our list in the church. John Angier stayed in Swanland and died in 1780. The two chapels rejoined during the pastorate of the Rev David Williams of Aberystwyth who was the minister here for 39 years.

When Robert Raikes, whose cousin lived at Welton Hall, started the Sunday School movement in Gloucester in 1780, there was much opposition, especially in the north. The Archbishop of Canterbury canvassed the help of bishops to 'stop this enterprise'.

Here are some comments from the Hull papers :-

'Sunday Schools are to ripen the genius of the inferior classes by spoiling millions of industrious labourers'

'What ploughman able to read would be willing to whistle up one furrow and down another from morn to sunset'

'Our poor are already too much enlightened'.

Thomas Blossom started a Sunday School in Swanland on Easter Day, 15th April 1789 with 70 scholars. This was the first Sunday School in the East Riding.

Rev J.E. Whitehead copied much of the church’s history from the damaged documents.

Thomas Blossom, after returning from missionary service in the South Sea Islands, went to live with his brother who farmed in North Cave. In 1847 towards the end of his life, 1777 - 1850, he wrote an autobiography. Both Whitehead and Patton referred to Blossom's writings in their work. The Rev J.G. Patton when writing his book, ‘A Country Independent Chapel’, took Blossom's writings from the church to his home along with other old documents. After George Patton's death in 1949 his wife, in blissful ignorance, while clearing up his personal papers burnt them on a bonfire.

Mr Whitehead noted that when he was minister, half the congregation came from outside the village. In the present day most of the congregation are from the village, but there are some members who come from further afield.

The chapel school became too small for the number of children from the village that wanted to attend. In 1876, John Todd Esq. JP. of Swanland Hall, one of the Deacons of the church, gave a new building for the use as a Day and Sunday School. A corner stone near the main entrance of the new school contains the usual memorabilia, coins newspapers and documents of the period.

By 1929 the number of children from the village had once again grown and were too many for the building. The church was finding it difficult to finance the day to day running expenses of the school and were certainly not in a financial position to afford the cost of extending the building. The Deacons decided to give the building to the East Riding Council but retaining the right to use it for Sunday School purposes. In 1935 the Council built on the class room on the pond side of the school, including a new entrance, cloakrooms and an upstairs staff room.

The Second World War.

Early during the Second World War the whole of Linnaeus Street Jewish School was evacuated to Swanland. They used our vestry for some time as a school room. During this time, when air-raids on Hull were a nightly occurrence, people arrived from Hull for a night’s refuge. The carnage being wrought upon Hull could be viewed from Tranby Lane like some great demonic firework display. During this time the fields around Swanland received quite a variety of bombs. The German Bombers used the River Humber as a guide. They flew up the river, turned over Swanland and made a bombing run on Hull, and then flew on out to the North sea and back home. Searchlights were placed all around the Swanland area, there was one at the junction of Tranby Lane and Jenny Brough Lane. If, as the bombers turned, they were caught by the searchlights, the anti-aircraft guns at Chanterlands Avenue and the Costello Playing fields would open fire, and the Germans used to let their bombs go and try to escape .

The Primitive Methodist Chapel was built in 1827 on land donated by H. Sykes Esq. (see plaque in chapel balcony). It was served by the Methodist Circuit in Hull and was the only alternative place of worship until the end of the century when the Anglicans consecrated a building known as St Barnabas Church in 1899.

Our Coming Together

The coming together of the two denominations was a task that took over twenty years to achieve.

In 1963 at a ministers’ fraternal the topic of our two churches joining together was discussed. The Rev Roy Kilner the Methodist Minister and Pastor Rowland Taylor for the Congregational Chapel were very keen for this to happen. I quote from a letter from Roy Kilner to Rowland Taylor, "As you probably know, I believe passionately in re-union and long for the day when our Lord's prayer has been realised and we become one". The joining together was put to both church meetings and the Congregationalists voted their agreement. Of the twenty-five that attended, twenty-three voted for and two against. Eleven Methodist members were present. Five members agreed to a joint church but six members voted to remain 'as we are'.

In 1970 the Vicar, Rev David Bulman, invited all the churches in Swanland to meet together to explore the needs of Swanland in view of the expected growth of the population that was scheduled by the Local Authority to take place in the next few years. After much discussion, the suggestion was made to extend the Congregational Chapel. At that time there was plenty of undeveloped land around it to expand, to create a set of church buildings that could be used by each denomination for their individual worship and have a central Christian meeting place in the middle of the village. Cold feet and lack of imagination defeated this project.

In 1972 the Congregationalists joined the Presbyterians nationally to form the United Reformed Church and Swanland Independent Chapel became Swanland United Reformed Church.

In 1975-6 the Methodist Chapel became unsafe to use. They approached the U.R.C. and asked if they could use their building to hold separate services. The U.R.C. members invited the Methodists to join them as one congregation. The Methodists declined and as a result the Church Meeting said no, because for two denominations to share one building and have their own separate services would cause difficulties.

In 1978 the U.R.C. minister of Swanland and Hessle, Rev David Anderson, left to become the minister at Withernsea. The Church Meeting, while discussing joint pastorates with other U.R.C. churches, came to the conclusion that the best solution was to share ministry with their own village Methodists. On Jan 26th 1979 a letter was sent to the Methodists inviting them to discuss this. A joint meeting was arranged. By this time new people to the village had joined both congregations and some of the intransigent, had been called to higher service. The meeting agreed that to explore the joining together, as a joint church, was the best course of action. Under the leadership of the Methodist Minister, the Rev Derek Jennings, a Sharing Agreement was drafted and a Constitution written out and agreed, both locally and nationally by each denomination. There were 23 Methodist members and 25 U.R.C. members.

In September 1981 the Sharing Agreement was signed. The first minister of the joint church, Rev Kenneth Marshall, was inducted to the pastorate and officials of both denominations took part in this service. In a very short time the membership had grown to number seventy-five. At the 1988 October census the attendance figures for Sunday worship were 102 in the morning and 29 in the evening.

The two denominations locally have amalgamated in such a way that they have become one church, and the join is invisible. This was achieved by everyone accepting a new situation and agreeing to do things in a new way. As an example, for the Communion Service, we use the words from the Methodist Service Book and the distribution of bread and wine is made in the Congregational way, as a family meal. The only time each of the two denominations is counted individually, is for the annual census and the financial assessments, when our dues to the parent denominations are calculated.

Recent Events

1983 saw the birth of a new venture that has proved to be one of the brightest jewels in the joint church crown. Brian Gilyard and Bill Calland started the Company of 1^st Swanland Boys Brigade. This developed into a Boys and Girls Brigade and proved to be perhaps the best way in which the church reached out into the local community. On a Tuesday evening, about 45 young people as well as helpers and parents, took over the whole of our buildings for their Christian based activities. Once a month a Parade Service was held. In 2001 Bill and Brian wished to step down, having been the leaders for 18 years. Sadly, nobody was prepared to come forward to take over as officers and so the Company was wound up.

Over the first sixteen years we were served very well by four Methodist Ministers from the Hull West Circuit. When it was known that the Revd Philip Chilvers would be leaving in August 1996 the Church Meeting decided to seek a U.R.C. minister. Both the Methodist Circuit and the U.R.C District Council agreed. The U.R.C. District Council suggested a joint pastorate with Elloughton U.R.C. Church. A pastoral profile was produced and a number of candidates were viewed. In 1998 the Revd Ian Jones was appointed minister for both Swanland and Elloughton.

In the period 1996 to 1998 our services and midweek meetings were well supplied by an Interim Moderator, Revd Steven Knapton and Revd Henry Pittam, a Methodist Supernumerary Minister, as well as being served by Lay Preachers through the Methodist Circuit Plan and from the U.R.C.

Unfortunately in 2001 the Revd Ian Jones resigned from his position and for a period of six months we were without a minister again. The Church agreed to seek ministry from the Methodist Circuit and in 2002 the Revd Sue Sowden was appointed minister for Christ Church. She was already minister at Princes Avenue and Perth Street churches. As Swanland decided to look to the Methodist Circuit for a minister, the sharing arrangement with Elloughton ceased.

Many people have said, especially visitors, that there is a very special atmosphere of warmth and friendship at Christ Church. Why not pay us a visit? See our notice board for details of our Sunday services. You could come first to one of our weekly Saturday coffee mornings. Look around the building. Join in our activities. There is a mid-weekly Christian Fellowship Meeting, regular House and Prayer Groups and all kinds of social events take place throughout the year. You will always be welcome.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

These notes were compiled by Raymond Taylor in 2000 from his memory and that of others, and:

Church minute books

Notes by Revd J. E. Whitehead

"A Country Independent Chapel" by Revd J. G. Patton

Alterations to bring the notes up to date were made by John White.

A list of Ministers who have served the Church.

1662 John Packman

Rev John Ryther

-- 1680 Rev Joseph Shaw

1693 Building of the first chapel

1696 -1702 Rev Emanuel Dewsnop

1703- Rev Brook

- 1713 Rev Gardner

1715 - 1728 Rev Joshua Hardcastle

1720 - 1738 Rev Joshua Hoyle

1740 - ???? Rev John Angiers. died 1780 at Swanland

1770 - 1773 Rev Samuel Bottomley

1775 - 1782 Rev George Gill

1783 - 1785 Rev Richard Leggett

1786 - 1827 Rev David Williams

1826 - 1834 Rev John Haydon

1835 - 1844 Rev John Evison

1844 - 1850 Rev John Bramall

1851 - 1853 Rev Robert Thomson M.A.

1854 - 1865 Rev James Wishhart M.A.

1866 - 1866 Rev E Newman

1867 - 1871 Rev George Snashall B.A.

1872 - 1899 Rev J.E. Whitehead

1899 - 1914 Rev Wm St John Crickmer

1914 - 1922 Rev Wm Nicholson

1922 - 1924 Rev R.J.Hill

1924 - 1928 Rev T. Langham Moore

1929 - 1946 Rev John G. Patton

1946 - 1950 Rev D. Trevor Roberts

1950 - 1956 Rev Albert F. Bayly B.A.

1958 - 1961 Rev Derek A. Fitch

1961 - 1964 Pastor Rowland V.F.Taylor

1965 - 1971 Rev W.K.Gathercole M.A. B.D.

1971 - 1975 Pastor H.K.Johnson

1975 - 1978 Rev David Anderson B.A.

1979 - 1981 Rev Harry Smith U.R.C.Interim Moderator

Rev Derek Jennings Methodist Minister.

1981 - 1988 Rev Kenneth Marshall

1988 - 1991 Rev Stanley Barker B.A.

1991 - 1994 Rev Kingsley Halden M.A.

1994 - 1996 Rev Philip Chilvers

1996 - 1998 Rev Steven Knapton M.A. Interim Moderator

1998 - 2001 Rev Ian Jones B.Sc. B.Th