Gents Mag 1843 part 2 p.365
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Gentleman's Magazine 1843 part 2 p.365
with St. Paul's residence there as a prisoner; and it was not a less favourable coincidence that they should be released from confinement in the same year in which St. Paul was set at liberty. Nothing could be more convenient for St. Paul's mission to the Gentiles than the opportunity which their return must have offered him of introducing the Gospel into Britain, and nothing more probable than that he should readily embrace such an opportunity." But, whatever was the period of the first promulgation of Christianity in Britain, it is quite clear that the professors of Druidism were in existence, and displayed some vigour, until the twelfth or fourteenth century. They took refuge in many of the wild and unfrequented districts of Wales, and even of this and the neighbouring counties. But we have reason to believe that in this district at least, long before any regular church was erected for the more decent observance of Christian worship, there was a little flock of followers of a crucified Saviour, who left the ancient superstitions of Druidism, and, though the habits of many generations prejudiced them in favour of their ancient place of worship, yet they no longer participated in the bloody rites of their forefathers. The rocking-stone at a short distance from the Roman town of Cambodunum, situate at the borders of Scamonden, near Huddersfield, which has retained the name of Holy Stone to this day, no doubt gave name to the neighbouring township of Golcar, which is a contraction from Godle-scar, for so it is spelt in some copies from the earliest writers. It was the name given to it by our Saxon ancestors, though it is, like many other names in Domesday, incorrectly spelt. To render Christianity palatable to the Anglo-Saxons, Augustine was instructed by the Pope to permit the exercise of some of their ancient peculiarities, by incorporating into the purer faith the less offensive tenets of their own superstition, and he permitted the conversion of their temples into Christian churches, by merely destroying the idols and consecrating the altars. We have no conclusive evidence to shew the precise period when a fabric for the celebration of Christian worship was first erected in this part of the kingdom; but, from the abandonment of the Roman station of Cambodunum by the Saxons, who occupied the less bleak and more defensibel position at Almonbury, and subsequently perhaps the present site of Huddersfield, we have every reason to believe that the timber edifice was constructed in both those places in the early Saxon times. Camden was incorrect in supposing that a basilica was built at Almonbury by Pauklinus, which could not be the case, as at some future opportunity I hope most satisfactorily to shew. J. K.WALKER. |
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