ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



itirely rebuilt under a faculty issued in 1756/* These are a few instances 

 at of many ; and credit must be given to this much-abused age for its zeal 

 1 retrieving past neglect. Repair, however, did not forbid occasional 

 estruction. Thus at Burton Agnes (1730) °^ and Cowlam (1713) chancels 

 reve shortened. Cowlam lost its tower and probably its aisles in 1735.** 

 lessingby Chapel was shortened in 1765," and faculties for 'contracting' 

 olkton Church were obtained in 1771 and 1772.*' In the first half of the 

 entury chancel-screens were sedulously removed by the archdeacons.'* 

 'hurches were crowded with galleries like those which still remain at 

 Vhitby. John Hobson of Dodworth Green notes (30 November 1726) : 

 Sunday last was the first time that I sat in the new seat in the loft which 

 Ar. James Oates has builded in Silkston Church.' ™ Doncaster, Rotherham, 

 nd Scarborough Churches suffered severely in this way.^^ Restoration was 

 eldom free from x\\q plumbi sacra fames : and, as the century wore on, slate 

 oofs became increasingly common in place of the old leaden ones.''* It was 

 inly with difRculty that Bishop Cleaver of Chester prevented the removal of 

 he lead from Knaresborough Church at the end of the century .'^^ 



For Matthew Hutton (1747-57), as for Herring, York was the 

 tepping-stone from Bangor to Canterbury. John Gilbert, translated from 

 Salisbury in 1757, was succeeded by another Bishop of Salisbury, Robert 

 jlay Drummond (1761—76), and Drummond by William Markham 

 1776— 1807), who had been appointed Bishop of Chester in 1771.^* 

 Jnder these archbishops, the work of building and restoring churches 

 vas pursued with increasing activity. If ideals of worship were not 

 ligh, the need of decent places of worship was respected. Archbishop 

 jilbert, moreover, introduced a change for the better by confirming candi- 

 lates separately, instead of in batches. ^*^ Methodism had its effect on 

 he Church's energy. We have seen that Nonconformity had made progress 

 ilready, especially in the West Riding. Presbyterians and Quakers were the 

 eading bodies ; but Independents of various denominations had made their 

 way, as, for instance, at Barnoldswick, where there was a settlement of 

 Baptists from 17 17 onwards.''*'' About 1740 John Nelson, a mason, returned 

 ■rom London to his native place, Birstal, full of the preaching of John 

 Wesley. Nelson was opposed by the Moravians, who urged his friends ' not 

 :o run about to church and sacrament, and to keep their religion to them- 

 ;elves.'''*° On 26 May 1742 Wesley preached his first sermon in Yorkshire 

 It noon on the top of Birstal Hill ' to several hundreds of plain people.' 

 rhe same evening he preached on Dewsbury Moor.'^^ His former friend, 

 Benjamin Ingham, the Moravian leader, resented Wesley's inquiries into 

 :he spread of quietist doctrine. On 3 June Wesley, at Mirfield, found 



" Lawton, op. cit. 490. ^' Ibid. 292. ^ Ibid. 273, 274 



'' Ibid. 287. «8 Ibid. 298. 



'' For details, see C. B. NorclifFe, 'The Chancel-Screens of Yorks.', Jssoc. Archli. Soc. Rep. vi, 177 seq. 



™ Yorks. Diaries (Surt. Soc), 276. " Faculties for galleries mentioned ap. Lawton, op. cit. 



" Instances in Lawton, op. zM. passim. At Bessingby (see note 67, above) the lead was to be sold, and the 

 oof covered with pan-tiles. 



" Whitaker, Richmondshire, i, 263. Ibid, i, 250, is a note of the plausible deal central tower added to 

 he fabric of Langton-on-Swale Church. ''* Le Neve, Fasti Eccl. Jngl. iii. 



'•^ Diet. Nat. Biog. xxi, 330, 331. "!> Lawton, op. cit. 247. 



"' Wesley, Journal {cdi. F. W. Macdpnald), i, 372, 373 (26 May 1742). 



" Ibid, i, 373. Cf. ibid, iv, il (30 Apr. 1774). 



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