Topic : Places of Worship

Y5 visit to Ainsworth Unitarian Chapel and The Parish of Christ Church Ainsworth.

PLACES OF WORSHIP Year 5 have been learning about Places of

Worship in the Christian faith. We learnt that there are different types of Christians. We have also learnt that Churches have similarities and differences.

We decided to visit two different denominations in Ainsworth and try and spot some of these similarities and differences for ourselves.

Our first visit was to Ainsworth Unitarian Chapel and then we crossed the road to the Parish of Christ Church Ainsworth.

Many of us had never been inside the Chapel before and were surprised to see that from the outside it looked like a house. Mrs Horracks explained that the Chapel was designed to look like a meeting house, where people came together to talk about God.

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We were met at The Unitarian Chapel by Mrs Shirley Horrocks, who is the Chapel secretary, and her husband Bill. They gave us a lovely warm welcome and Mrs Horrocks told us a brief history of the Chapel and gave us some information about the Unitarian faith.

Click icon to add pictureThe first thing that we noticed was that the Chapel had ‘box pews’. Mrs Horracks informed us that the Chapel today has changed very little since it was built in the 16th century.The pews are in a box shape because there was no heating or electricity. People would have brought blankets to the chapel and sat close together to keep warm. The box shape helped to conserve heat.

Parishioners had to pay to rent a pew box. We were shown the plaque that would have been put out when it was time to pay the rent again!

The original font in the Unitarian Chapel is so tiny that it fits on a shelf!Thankfully there is a larger font too.

Inside the Unitarian Chapel there are some graves. Mrs Horracks explained that rich people would have paid money to be buried inside the Chapel. There was a belief in the 1700s that people would be closer to God if they were buried inside!

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Joshua found a secret door in the vestry.

Mrs Horracks explained that the Minister would use

it to check that all the people were sat down

waiting before the service.

Mr Horrocks showed us a Bible from the 1700s! We were surprised at how large it was and the incredible condition that it was in.

The clock on the wall is as old as the Church AND it still works!

We made our way over to the Parish of Christ Church Ainsworthand were given a very warm welcome from Mr and Mrs White.

We are very familiar with Christ Church Ainsworth. However it was lovely to walk around the Church and explore the features.

Mr White showed us a poking stick.

Mrs White showed us how it was used!

The altar at Christ Church. Mrs White told us that Reverend Dave likes to call it, ‘The Lord’s table’.

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One of the three fonts at Christ Church Ainsworth.

The Vicar’s chair.

The Creed on the wood panel at Christ Church. Unitarians do not have a creed.

Inside Christ Church Ainsworth.

Similarities and differences between the two Churches.

The roll of Ministers at The Unitarian Chapel.

The Incumbents of Ainsworth.

The simplistic windows in the Unitarian Chapel make it feel like a

house.

At Christ Church Ainsworth the windows are stained glass.

The Unitarian Chapel has two pulpits!

At Ainsworth there’s one pulpit and one lectern.

The organ in the Chapel is on the second floor and

almost touches the ceiling.

The organ at Christ Church is on the ground floor.

We explored upstairs in The Unitarian Chapel.

Then went upstairs at Christ Church Ainsworth too. Here we found an extra pair of stairs that led up to the tower!

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Thank you to Mr and Mrs Horrocks and Mr and Mrs White for letting us explore the Churches. We found lots of similarities and differences between the two different Christian denominations and learnt a great deal from listening to your talks. We were made to feel very welcome and had a very enjoyable afternoon.