Railway church

Interior of St. Gregory's Church in the Vale of Lune. Built in the early 1860's on the order of Miss Frances Upton of nearby Ingmire Hall, who owned the land. She did this to encourage the navvies constructing the Ingleton branch of the London and North Western Railway to worship and chasten their behaviour. A scripture reader called Mr. Foyers was employed to man the church and he proved so popular that local farmers soon flocked to his services. When the navvies left after the railway was completed, Mr. Foyers stayed at the request of the farmers. Originally the interior was divided into a chapel and a classroom but in the early 1900's it was remodelled into how we see it today, including the stained glass windows, carved pews and wood panelling. In 1918 Major Upton gave the church and its contents to the ecclesiastical commissioners and it was consecrated as a Chapel Of Ease to St. Andrews Church, Sedbergh. Chapel Of Ease means it was used to allow people to go to church without having to travel all the way into Sedbergh, Since 1992 St. Gregory's Church has been 'pastorally redundant'. Although still consecrated, no services are held and the building is in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust, open to the passing public. I've been by it so many times over the years, today I finally saw inside and it was well worth it.