Sion Baptist Chapel Yorkshire Street Burnley

LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION STONE OF SION NEW BAPTIST CHAPEL, YORKSHIRE STREET, BURNLEY. Yesterday (Good Friday) the foundation stone of the new Baptist Chapel, Yorkshire Street, was laid by John Haughton Esq of Kirkdale, Liverpool....  The style of the building will be Italian, and, although much architectural effect has been necessarily sacrificed, the appearance of the building will be however bold and consistent; the material for the fronts next to streets, being Pickup Stone Ashlar, with Quoins, Window Heads, Cornices, and other dressings in Catlow Stone. There will be three separate entrance doorways to the Chapel, the two principal ones being next Yorkshire Street, affording access to the ground floor and galleries, the other doorway communicating with the vestries will be also available for the use of the choir and occupants of seats in the galleries, these entrances are carefully arranged and will afford ample means of ingress and egress for a large congregation. The internal dimensions of the Chapel are 66 feet by 47 feet 6in., and 33 feet high to ceiling, the central portion of which is arched, and the sides panelled and finished with plaster cornices and mouldings, with brackets to the beams on either side. The organ platform or gallery is placed behind the pulpit within a moulded arched recess; beneath this gallery are the vestries for minister and deacons arranged with every convenience. The Baptistery platform is in front of the pulpit, on the same level as the vestries, and will be enclosed with ornamental iron railing, and the Baptistery will be lined with encaustic tiles. The seating on both ground and gallery floors will be circular on plan radiating from the pulpit, that on the ground floor having a slight rise from the aisle in front of Baptistery, towards the entrance, thus affording an uninterrupted view of both pulpit and baptistery. The whole of the internal woodwork to pulpit, gallery front and seating will be stained in two tints and varnished. The Chapel will be heated with hot air on Haden's principle, and perfect ventilation is secured throughout means of extraction flues above ceilings, connected with a vertical flue in a chimney stack, arranged for gas burners and means for regulating the current, fresh cold air is admitted through the floors and regulated at pleasure. The total number of sittings on ground and gallery floors is for adults, and the estimated cost will be £1,549, exclusive of old materials, which are valued at £162 10s. 0d. The architects are Messrs Paull and Ayliffe, of this town, and the contractors are also local men, namely:—Dert and Parker, masons; J. Wiseman, carpenter and joiner; J. Redman, slater; Dixon and Radcliffe, plasterers and painters; T. West, plumber and glazier. [Burnley Advertiser 19 April 1862 page 3].

Reference    Burnley Advertiser 19 April 1862 page 3