Underbank Chapel

Underbank Chapel is a Unitarian place of worship in Stannington, a suburb of Sheffield, South Yorkshire. It is a member of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the umbrella organisation for British Unitarians.

It stands in a rural situation, 6 km west of the city centre on Stannington Road, overlooking the Loxley Valley. The building is Grade II listed. In 2012 the minister is June Pettit.

History

The congregation dates its founding to 1652, when it first began to meet in a converted barn on an adjoining site. This was established when Richard Spoone left land and a building in his will to establish a “preaching minister”. As the chapel was founded during the Commonwealth of England, the minister was of the Presbyterian denomination. The setting up of this chapel of ease allowed the people of the Stannington district to worship locally for the first time, as prior to this the nearest church was the Church of St Nicholas at High Bradfield, some five km away. By about 1700 they counted themselves Dissenters.

By the year 1740 the original chapel had become unfit for use and Thomas Marriott of Ughill, a local Calvanistic dissenter, built the present day chapel on a nearby plot of land he had purchased for the purpose. The chapel was opened on 2 June 1743 by Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. Samuel Smith and three or four ministers, one of whom had come from Doncaster.

In 1785 the chapel embraced Unitarian beliefs when Reverend Edmund Gibson became minister. Many of the congregation could not accept Unitarianism and left the church, either returning to St. Nicholas or attending the newly opened Congregational church on Queen Street in the centre of Sheffield. In 1796 Underbank was visited by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who at that time was considering becoming a Unitarian minister; he met the chapel’s minister, the Reverend Astley Meanley.

Architecture

Underbank Chapel is generally considered as being a distinctive and interesting example of its type as an eighteenth century Dissenters' meeting house. It was chosen as the cover photograph for The Unitarian Heritage: An Architectural Survey of Chapels and Churches in the Unitarian Tradition in the British Isles. The book describes it as "an extremely sophisticated design" by an unknown person.

Exterior

The chapel is constructed from coarse, squared sandstone with ashlar dressings. The roof is hipped and consists of stone slates with the flat central section being of lead. The front (south facing) side of the chapel features distinctive windows: two very tall round-headed ones with multiple small panes, and decoratively keyed oculus ones above both doors. The chapel originally had separate entrance doors for men and women, and although both are still in situ, only the right hand one is now used.

Interior

The north wall features two stained glass windows, one of which depicts St. Mark as the winged lion and Saint Matthew as a winged man. The other depictsJesus welcoming the children.

The interior of the chapel has undergone several major changes over the years. It now seats approximately 110 people downstairs, plus 50 to 70 in the gallery. It added fixed pews in 1860. It used to have two long side balconies, necessary to accommodate the large numbers attending the services. These were removed, and now only the balcony on the east wall at the back of the chapel remains. In 1952 there was a major refurbishment, which saw the addition of a vestry by removing two rows of pews and adding panelling. At the same time the pulpit was moved into a more central location, exchanging positions with the organ, which is now situated in the north-western corner. The organ itself is a Brindley & Foster pipe organ which was purchased second-hand in memorial of chapel members lost in World War I.

By the pulpit on the west wall is a wall hanging made by congregation members which commemorates the 350th anniversary of the founding of the original chapel in 2002.