Most visitors to the chapel are intrigued by the reference to British Workman above the right hand door at the front of the building. What is it doing there? And why is it singular and not plural?

 

The inscription goes back to a nineteenth century society created for the purpose of helping working men. The society produced a newspaper and encouraged workers to be conscientious, hardworking and to seek opportunities to improve themselves educationally. However, the society did not merely hector the great British workman but provided practical support in the way of facilities and resources such as books and reading rooms to accomplish this objective. 

 

These reading rooms were also seen as an alternative to the local hostelry with books and learning a distraction from the excessive consumption of alcohol. Funds were granted to churches and other public buildings to provide facilities to the poorer workers of a locality to read and study. Here, in this reading room, at the end of his working day a British workman would find a warm place on a cold winter evening to read and study.

 

Egglesburn Chapel was such a place and for many years books were kept in a library at the end of the chapel where a fireplace kept the building warm. The right-hand door with the inscription overhead was the entrance and inside a removable partition separated the library from the main meeting room where services were conducted.

 

The present side entrance incorporating a ramp was not part of the original building but has been added in the past fifteen years to provide inside toilet facilities and disabled access. However, the shape of the extension  follows the footprint of an old outbuilding which until its removal served as an outside toilet and coal house.

 

The British Workman was a magazine of the aforementioned society and operated as a focus for benevolent gifts and charitable donations from wealthy Victorians.

 

Here is a cover from one of the magazines. A bound collection of newspapers is also in our possession.