Our History
The history of the Darwen valley and of
its people owes much to its topography.
Because it was “off the beaten track” it developed at its own
pace and in its own way.
Independence, in both religious and secular terms, characterised the
local people. By the 1800s,
there were many churches and chapels in the valley.
Prior to the Reformation, there was one place of Christian
worship in the Darwen area,
Darwen Chapel
was located adjacent to the current St James, Over Darwen site and was
served by Blackburn Parish Church.
The rediscovery of the Bible and the
opportunity to study it in their own tongue, during the Reformation
period, brought together the men and women of the district as
independent or congregational dissenters.
For a number of years in the early seventeenth century, Darwen
Chapel was used by worshippers of all shades of opinion, from High
Church to Puritan.
The 1662 Act of Uniformity removed the
Nonconformists’ right to worship and led to their worshipping in more
secret places in the locality.
In 1687 a “Declaration of Liberty and Conscience” was published
by James II, aimed at regularising Dissenting Worship.
From about 1688 the Congregationalists
used a barn, a short distance down hill from Darwen Chapel.
Thirty years later a new Chapel, “Lower Chapel”, was built in its
present location, using the voluntary labour of its people.
From then on the district became known as Chapels - probably the
largest of many hillside settlements, of which the growing town of
Darwen was first comprised.
Two features of local Nonconformity
require a mention: one was the number of adherents, the other their
volatility. Apart from
Tockholes Chapel (1662) no other independent church than Lower Chapel
existed within the area covered by the modern Borough of Blackburn until
about 1777 when Chapel Street was opened.
Many Blackburn dissenters attended or supported Lower Chapel and
swelled the congregation to 1,800 people by the mid-eighteenth century -
a number exceeding the then total population of Over Darwen!
Volatility was most often seen in the
number and type of secessions from one church to another, and in their
possible reunion. Two
differences in opinion created secessions to Pole Lane in 1792 and the
migration of a majority to found Duckworth Street (the precursor to the
current Central building) in 1852.
A minority remained on the hill up until the closure of Lower
Chapel on 27th April 2003.
The present incarnation of Central United Reformed Church comprises people from Duckworth Street and Belgrave churches (union in the 1970s) and many members from Lower Chapel. In addition to these are a significant number of people from various nations who have no connection with the previous churches. Our congregation now has a strongly international character with members from Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, other parts of England and, of course, those who are Darwen born and bred!
Belgrave Independent Meeting House built 1847
Now converted into flats
Duckworth Street Church built 1853
demolished 1995
Duckworth Street interior
pre 1914
Lower Chapel URC
Duckworth Street Womens’ Guild with Revd David Harries (Minister
1959-1965)
Back Row (left
to right) Lois Haworth, Annie Briggs, Hilda Whewell, Janie
Pinder, Rev David Harries, Mrs Graham, Connie Marsden, Anne Brooks,
Alice Yates, Mrs Kilner.
Middle Row
(left to right) Annie Ainsworth, Miss Gibson, Hannah Isherwood, Miss
Ingram, Alice Jane Smith, Mrs Harries, Isa White,
Front Row
(left to right) Edith Isherwood, Polly Bradshaw, Florence Berry