Slaithwaite / Slaithwaite / Slaughthwaite / Slawit / Sleighthwaite

Hulbert (1864) quotes the 20 March 1724 last will and testament of Robert Meeke, curate in the Parish of Huddersfield, and states: "A Stone Font still remains in the Church, bearing the inscription, R.M. 1721". Presumably this font was a goft made by the curate before his death in 1724. An earlier font must have existed here, in the "Ancient Chapel of Slaithwaite" that "stood in the midst of this valley", a chapel that is referred to in a 1593 record quoted in Hulbert (ibid.) which reports it as "much decayed" at the time, and being repaired and enlarged in that year. Hulbert (ibid.) notes: "We have however, no data for ascertaining the origin of Slaithwaite Chapel, or anything of its earlier history". Sugden (1905) writes: "At a large and influential meeting at tho Parish Church it was unanimously agreed that the following should be the memorial to the two dear ladies: "A window will be placed in the southwest end of the church, with a new font immediately adjoining. A couple of pews will be removed for the purpose, and placed where the old font now stands. The new font will be of white marble, set in a floor of terazza, and will bear the following inscription: "This font was erected by the parishioners and friends to the glory of God and in memory of Catherine Ann, wife of the Rev. H. H. Rose, incumbent of Slaithwaite, who died October 5th, 1904. 'She hath done what she could.'[...] The inscription on the old font would lie: " This font was placed in the old church during the ministry of the Rev. Robert Meeke. It was transferred to the present building in 1789, and substituted by the present font in 1905."