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Linking Chesterfield via Worksop with the river Trent at West Stockwith, the canal provides opportunities to transport raw materials and other products from a wider area than can easily be accessed by road. Barley grown in the surrounding countryside can be brought to be malted in the many small Maltings scattered across the town. Stone from quarries near the course of the canal can be more cheaply transported to distant building sites. The new transport link plus Worksop’s position at the heart of a rural economy means the town is ideally placed to expand.
As the largest parish in Nottinghamshire covering 18,220 acres Worksop is served by only one church, The Priory of St Mary and St Cuthbert. In addition to the town itself, the parish of Worksop comprises the settlements of Radford, Ratcliffe, Darfould, Sloswick, Rayton, Kilton, Manton, Gateford, Haggonfields, Shireoaks, Clumber, Hardwick and Osberton-with-Scofton. Most people have to walk many miles in all weathers on poor roads and footpaths to attend church each Sunday and for occasions like weddings, baptisms and to bury their dead.
John Gabbitas moves his Windsor Chair making business, along with his family, to Eastgate in Worksop. His wife Elizabeth carries on the business following John’s death and chairs from the Gabbitas workshop are marked with her name. She later marries again, but her and John’s son Frederick carries on producing chairs. Chairmaking is just one of many manufacturing industries that are thriving throughout the town.
Worksop station on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway opens with trains to Sheffield and Lincoln. As well as passenger journeys rail transport opens up new markets in industrial cities and expands the malting season so that workers can be employed for much more of the year. Malt can be transported to the growing cities of Sheffield and Manchester ready for brewing into beer for thirsty workers. Benjamin Garside & Son have won contracts to supply timber to the growing railways and are able to expand their timber business.
Frustrated by the lack of progress, Lady Milton offers to pay for the site of the new church on the understanding that work commences within the month. The Committee buy the old tannery site on Gateford Rd for £350 from Joseph Garside. The great and the good of Worksop turn out to watch Lady Milton lay the foundation stone of the new church.
The town continues to grow as it carries on a large trade in flour, timber, railway-sleepers, and Windsor chairs; and has brass and iron foundries, chemical works, saw-mills, agricultural-implement factories, malt kilns, a weekly corn market on Wednesday, a weekly fat stock market on Monday, and a cattle and horse market twice a year. The growth in Worksop’s population vindicates the decision to build St John’s.
On January 12th, 1873, Frederick Gabbitas, the son of Elizabeth and her first husband, and Sarah Keeling become the thirty third couple to marry in St John’s. Frederick is described as a ‘Chairmaker’ as is his deceased father, John.
Shireoaks Colliery Co. contributes 200 guineas towards the cost of £1,382 of the Institute envisioned by Rev Dobree as ‘a recreational centre for a rapidly growing industrial population’. The Institute is soon providing a place for young men and women to gather socially together and be ‘kept from places of temptation’ with a Physical Culture Club under the instruction of Sgt Major Bowler of the Sherwood Rangers, a swimming club, and ‘entertainments and … everything of an elevating character.’
A redbrick Mission Church on Gateford Road opens to serve the community living north of the iron railway bridge. The Foundation stone is laid by C A Longbottom Esq. of Forest Hill on 14th October 1924. Services are led by one of the two curates who serve the parish. The cost of roof repairs forces the sale of the building in 1950.
Offering a flexible space with large windows looking towards the north side of the church, modern kitchen, toilets and easy access to the new carpark, the expanded facilities offer the church community a lounge to accommodate children and young teens joining together, which better suits the more relaxed style of family worship now taking place in church.
Built and financed by the congregation of St John’s as a focus for the communities of the newly built housing of northern Worksop. The Christ Church Centre becomes the separate parish of Christ Church, Worksop in 2006.
St John’s Church,
Overend Road,
Worksop,
Nottinghamshire,
S80 1QG