More than twenty people and a dog were in the congregation that gathered in the ruined chapel high on the hillside above Swaledale on the first Friday evening in May. A glorious warm evening encouraged everyone to linger over the views up and down the Dale after the hard climb, before sitting round the edge of the open-roofed building.
The evening marked the start of the Smarber Weekend, when the people of our church in Low Row remember their origins as the first dissenting congregaton in the Dale. A weatherworn plaque on the back wall of what remains of Smarber Chapel commemorates the founding of the congregation by Lord Wharton (of Wharton Bible fame) in 1690. Contemporary records refer to Swaledale as a place
"where a worthy person this last Summer at his own charge has built a meeting place (which is certified at the Quarter Sessions for the County) He will settle £10 per annum for the future, and nothing by any body else. There is a numerous Auditory, most of them poor Miners. Mr Holland a young man unmarried, educated by Mr Frankland settles among them, who has given him a very good character."
The present minister Julie Martin (also given a very good character) welcomed the congregation to this year's service - the first that she had attended following her induction to the Two Dales Pastorate last September. However, it was not the first act of worship she had conducted at Smarber, as the ruined chapel is one of the stopping places on the Good Friday procession from Keld to Grinton, which is shared in by all the churches in the Dale.
In her address Julie spoke ot the memories that places like Smarber hold - a church where people will have gathered over the ages, sharing in the good times and hard times of life. In prayer she and the congregation thanked God for this treasured heritage; and though this year the blackbird's song was not offered as accompaniment, the congregation sang familiar hymns with enthusiasm and gratitude.
Then it was an easier walk back down the hillside into the village, past the "new" chapel of 1810, and to the home of one of the congregation, where a warm welcome and a good supper were waiting for everyone.
Visit the Low Row website