Church of the Good Shepherd, Huddersfield

[JaneyH_104]

I'm trying to find out which denomination the Church of the Good Shepherd in Huddersfield was, and in particular whether it was Roman Catholic. I have a letter dated June 1921 from a G. Butterworth who was the 'missioner in charge' at the aforementioned church, providing a character reference for my grandfather. The address on the letter was Ladbroke House, North Rise, Fartown, Huddersfield. Later in 1921 my grandfather left Huddersfield and joined the Royal Air Force.

Over the years I've picked up various hints that some ancestors on this side of my family might have been Catholics, and I'm hoping this letter might help provide some evidence one way or the other. My guess is the church no longer exists - basic searching on the internet didn't provide anything very helpful.

[BumbleB]

Is this it?

https://huddersfield.exposed/wiki/Church_of_the_Good_Shepherd,_Ball_Royd_Road,_Fartown

[JaneyH_104]

Could well be - my great-grandparents lived in Bradford Road North which I see is just to the left on the map.

[daveyp]

Just for info, it's marked as being "Church of England" on the 1959 O.S. 1:1,250 map. There was an earlier Anglican Mission Church (marked on the 1918 map) situated on an adjacent plot, which might help explain the reference to "missioner in charge". It's not named as being the "Church of the Good Shepherd" on the 1918 map, but presumably it must have been known as that prior to the larger building being erected.

The Mission Churches tended to be smaller structures and were built in areas where there'd been a sizeable increase in population but there was no local church. In this particular case, the nearest "proper" church was Christ Church at Woodhouse Hill. At least one of the Mission Churches in the Huddersfield area was constructed from timber whilst some of the equivalent structures for other denominations were built from corrugated galvanised iron (nicknamed "tin tabernacles").

[stanmapstone]

It's not named as being the "Church of the Good Shepherd" on the 1918 map, but presumably it must have been known as that prior to the larger building being erected.

From the Huddersfield Daily Examiner 23 May 1916

[JaneyH_104]

Thanks so much for that - it’s all falling into place now.

I recently came across an article in the Huddersfield Examiner reporting on a “sale of work” at the St. John’s Mission Church in Cowcliffe (6 May 1904). The report lists the people running the various stalls, including a Mr T.H.Dyson. My great-grandfather was Thomas Henry Dyson, so I wondered if this was him. (I’m always mindful of how many Dysons there are in Huddersfield!)

It sounds like my ancestors may have been quite involved with mission churches in the area.

Incidentally I’ve come across ‘tin tabernacles’ elsewhere in my research, particularly in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. There was even one a couple of minutes’ walk from where I live in Kent!

[daveyp]

I need to do a bit more digging, but I think the Cowcliffe Mission Church was primarily used as a school and later became St. Hilda's Church:
https://huddersfield.exposed/p/1a40

There's a Thomas Henry Dyson listed at 476 Bradford Road in the 1937 Huddersfield Directory, along with a "T.H. Dyson" who was a confectioner at 407 Bradford Road.

As an aside, there's a curious article in the "Yorkshire Post" (18/Aug/1953) which states that the Cowcliffe Mission Church wasn't consecrated until September 1953, so all of the services which had taken place up to then had been "illegal" (apparently Holy Communion in the C of E can only be taken at an altar in a consecrated church or at a sickbed). Presumably they initially intended to only use the school for a temporary period, but never quite got around to actually building a separate Mission Church?

[edit] Yep -- the Mission Church was definitely also the National School. I suspect it changed its name to St. Hilda's when the Bishop of Pontefract carried out the consecration service in September 1953.

[JaneyH_104]

Thanks again, daveyp!

The THD of 476 Bradford Road was my great-grandfather. He was quite a character from what I know, having played in a concertina band and being chairman of Huddersfield Ladies Cricket Club. He worked for Fisher’s Woollen Mills.

I’ve bookmarked the ‘Huddersfield Exposed’ website as it looks to be a very useful resource.

[daveyp]

In case it's of interest, 476 was the southern end of a row of 10 terraced houses which once stood on the east side of Bradford Road. I suspect they were demolished when the new road was laid out to turn Bradford Road into a dual carriageway. 476 was here:
https://goo.gl/maps/nCdVKRJVrGwN3cwW6

...and here's the row on the 1933 O.S. map:
https://maps.nls.uk/view/125645936#zoom=7&lat=4537&lon=11269&layers=BT