A 257-YEAR-old piece of Methodist history can be seen again in Haworth next month.
Replica stones from Haworth’s first Methodist preaching house will be dedicated at the village’s West Lane Methodist Church.
The original stones are badly weathered but remain over the porch door and window at the church, which was originally used as a Wesleyan Sunday and day school.
The ancient stones have been painstakingly copied by a local monumental stonemason using stone donated by a local quarry. The copies have been installed inside the porch so that visitors can read the inscriptions.
The Methodist cause began in Haworth in about 1744 and the small congregation believe theirs is among the longest-surviving in the world which are still worshipping.
The current premises have been used from the 1950s and the stones from the 1758 building were incorporated into the porch.
The dedication ceremony will be performed at the Sunday School anniversary on May 3 by the Reverend Alf Waite, who was minister at Haworth until 2010.
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