Bamber Bridge…
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BAMBER BRIDGE.
This village has undergone great changes during the last fifty years [written in 1890], politically, socially, and religiously. For the first three decades of the present century, it was not very safe to be out alone after dusk. Though the people of this district were comparatively poor, and lived by working the treadles, and throwing the shuttle across the hand-loom, yet they excelled in drunkenness, fighting, and profanity ; but all that has gone by, and it shows distinct traces of modern advancement. Probably the Methodists of Cockshott House, Walton-le-Dale, first carried the gospel into this village, the first services being held in a cellar in a street which has since been named Wesley-street, no doubt from this circumstance. The Lord soon brought them out of this dark dismal cellar, and gave them a position of comfort, respectability, and influence. Those who know Bamber Bridge will remember the old-fashioned many-gabled house near the old Wesleyan Chapel, called “The Old Hall.” Mr. George Hilton used to reside there, and a daughter of his about this time married a person called Coggan. Mrs. Coggan had been very deeply impressed under a sermon upon ” Godly sorrow,” preached by the clergyman at Walton. Learning that Mr. Wesley was preaching in Back-lane Chapel on the 15th of April, 1790, she went to hear him. In a transport of joy, she returned, and obtained her father s permission for preaching to be held in their house, to which place the services were transferred from the cellar. The ” Old Hall” was occupied by the Methodists until the opening of the new chapel, which took place on the coronation day of George IV., 1821. The ” Old Hall,” in which divine services were conducted for thirty years, has recently been removed to make room for the erection of the new Co-operative premises. The first class leader at Bamber Bridge was Mr. Walrnsley, of Cooper Hill, Walton-le-Dale. We find this village mentioned in the circuit books as early as September, 1791. For upwards of fifty years religious work was carried on with great spirit and energy in the old chapel. Generations have passed through this building, and many interesting facts could be narrated.
