The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-31 00:00:00

OV THI

The subject of the Weaver churches has cuffed so rnriph
interest, and given rise to so much discussion in the county,
that a short report of the first consecration cannot fail to be
interesting to all who love our National Establishment, and
feel sympathy for those who have hitherto been destitute of
its means of grace and ordinances. The important and in-
teresting ceremony of the consecration of the first Church,
at Weston Point, took place on Friday last ; and we are
happy in recording the event, not merely because it places
the watermen in that vicinity under the spiritual super-
vision of a minister of the Church of England, and affords
them the opportunity of bearing and learning those things
which are able to "make them wise unto salvation," but

.her because by the Weaver Church Measure the priuci

ple was announced—maintained—and nobly vindicated, that
employers, if they have it in their power, are under the obli-
gation of interesting themselves in, and providing for the
immortal interests of their dependents. That such a prin-
ciple should have been disputed in a christian country, may
at first sight appear rather remarkable ; but perhaps the op-
position may be productive of good results on the whole ;
and whatever may have been the reasons which induced some
of our county gentlemen to throw every obstacle in the way
of the progress of the measure, it has given its supporters a
better opportunity of demonstrating before the Weaver trus-
tees, the Court of Quarter Sessions, and the two principal
branches of the legislature, the Houses of Lords and Com-
mons, that the measure itself was just in principle, and
christian in practice. The object of the bill is simply this :
—to provide church accommodation and religious instruction
for the watermen and haulers employed upon the navigation,
by setting apart out of the surplus funds, £7,000, to build,
and £450 per annum to endow three churches, for the be-
nefit of those whose labours have been mainly instrumental
in creating the surplus revenue. The positions fixed upon
for their erection were Weston Point, Northwich, and Over ;
the one at the former place is now completed and conse-
crated, the second is in progress of building, and the third,
we understand, has not yet been commenced. The church
at Weston Point will contain about 380 persons, all the seats,
except the minister's, being unappropriated. The patronage
of the churches is in the hands of the lord bishop of the
diocese, and the appointment of the Rev. Mr. Bush, to Wes-
ton Point, cannot but give the greatest satisfaction. We
sincerely hope, and have every reason to believe, that the
fruits of the godly zeal of the Weaver trustees, will be seen
in the improved moral and spiritual condition of the water-
men, and in the increase and spreading of piety and peace
around.

On Friday morning, Weston Point presented a very ani-
mated appearance. Crowds of people, chiefly watermen and
the, poorer classes, were to be seen on the banks of the Wea-
ver, waiting the arrival of the lord bishop and the trustees,
in order that they might be present at the interesting cere-
mony, and thus manifest their thankfulness to their bene-
factors. The vessels in the basin hoisted the Union Jack ;
and where practicable, we presume the crews attended the

ceremony. The gentry and clergy of the surrounding neigh-
, bourhood had been invited to attend, to assist in the cere-
mony, and to meet the bishop at Sutton Bridge, in order to
convey him to Weston Point. For this purpose the river
Weaver barge had been tastefully fitted up ; and at eight
in the morning it started from Acton Bridge, and shortly be-
ten, reached Sutton Bridge, where the lord bishop and his
secretary, and the rev. the chancellor of the diocese were ta-
ken on board, and the barge immediately proceeded to Wes-
ton Point, where his lordship arrived about eleven o'clock.
Amongst the gentry and clergy who attended the consecra-
tion were—Sir Richard Brooke, Bart., John Tollemache,
Esq., M.P.. Warburton, Esq., Henry Brooke, Esq., Ed-
win Corbett, Esq., James Royds, Esq., Rev. Chancellor
Raikes, Rev. John Armitage. Rev. C. S. Stanhope, Rev.
Richard Greenall, Rev. F. Masters, &c. &c. The church
was well filled, including about sixty ladies, and one hundred
watermen. The Rev. Mr. Vaudrey was prevented attending
the ceremony through indisposition ; and the same cause
will explain the absence of Mr. Tomkinson, the gentleman
who, though a dissenter, so handsomely gave the stoke, value
£6OO.

His lordship, on arrival, proceeded to the church, and
having been received at the door, with the usual form, was
conducted to the Vestry Room. Having proceeded in his
robes to the front of the communion table, the sentence of
consecration was read aloud by the Chancellor; after which
the bishop, with his chaplains and clergy, walked down the
main aisle of the church and back again, repeating alter-
nately the 24th Psalm. On their return his lordship proceeed
with the usual service of consecration; which having been
completed, the daily service was commenced by the Rev.
Mr. Bush giving out a very beautiful and appropriate hymn.
The remainder of the service for the day was then read by
the Rev. Mr. Bush, after which the sermon was preached by
the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. His lordship based his
discourse on the latter clause of the 30th verse in the second
chapter of the Second of Samuel—" For them that honour
me I will honour ; but they that despise me shall be lightly
esteemed.

TREMENDOUS EXPLOSION OF •GUNPOWDER,
AND LOSS OF LIFE, ON THE LINE OF THE
BRISTOL AND GLOUCESTER RAILWAY.

BRISTOL, TUESDAY AFTERNOON.—OIIe of those-frightful
accidents, attended with the sacrifice of human life, conse-
quent on the careless use of gunpowder, and which, since the
commencement of the various great railway and other under-
takings, have been of too frequent occurrence in this king-
dom, took place yesterday (Monday), on the line of the
Gloucester and Bristol Railway (now in course of construc-
tion), in the neighbourhood of the small town of Wickwar,
Gloucestershire. The accident was of the most serious
description ; three of the unfortunate labourers employed
on the line were killed upon the spot, their bodies being
frightfully mutilated by the force of the explosion, and five
others were so seriously injured as to render it necessary that
they should be immediately conveyed to the Infirmary In this
this city, where they now lie, one or two of them in a dan-
gerous state. This afternoon one of them, John Hodges, is
sufficiently revived to admit of his conversing on the subject
of the melancholy and fatal occurrence, and I have had an
interview with him. He does not seem capable of giving a
♦ery clear account of the matter, but his statement is as fol-
lows :—The labourers in the employ of one of the contractors
were engaged in excavating some earth-work in the neigh-
bourhood of Wickar, for the purpose of making a tunnel,
and, on their leaving off work at the close of the last week,
they placed a barrel, containing about half a cwt. of gun-
powder, in the mouth of the excavation, thinking that by
so doing they should secure it at once from depredation-
and from the action of the weather. On Monday morn,
ing, one of the men, named Henry Williams, and who is
a blacksmith, was directs:l to point and sharpen some of
the tools used in excavating. Whether he was aware -or
not of the presence of the gunpowder does not seem very
clear, but he went on working in the usual manner,
by heating the iron and beating it on the anvil, until at
length a spark cams in contact with the powder, and a tre-
mendous explosion ensued. At the time of the accident
there were eight men in the tunnel and its immediate neigh-
bourhood. Three of them were killed immediately, their
bodies being blown to a considerable distance, where they
were afterwards found dreadfully scorched and mutilated :
one of them was without his head, which was forced to a
great distance from the trunk. Hodges states that two of
the dead men were named Matthew Stephens and James
Bennet ; the name of the third he does not re►nember having
heard, but he says he is quite sure that three were killed.
The names of the five men at present in the Infirmary are,
Thomas White, who has lost one eye, and the other is dread-
fully injured, and whose body is burnt and bruised in every
part ; George Collins, much burnt, and has received an ex-
tensive wound of the leg ; John Hodges, much burnt on the
face and legs ; Lewis Crew, much burnt and bruised ; Henry
Williams, ditto, ditto. The explosion blew the blacksmith's
shop and a mill-pound on the works to atoms, and scattered
the stones, &c., in all directions. It may be readily imagined
that the utmost consternation and alarm was produced in
Wickwar and the neighbourhood, the inhabitants being for
some time at a loss to account for the very violent shock. A
working man who came here this afternoon, and who says
he was in Wickwar at the time, gives a somewhat different
version of the matter. He says the workmen were lowering
the powder into a shaft, and let a spark fall into it. Hodges'
account, however, is generally received as being the most
correct. The force of the explosion was felt to within five
or six miles of this city. At the villages of Almondsbury,
Tockington, &c., the houses were shaken in such a manner
as to greatly alarm the inhabitants, who imagined for some
time that they had been visited by an earthquake, Almonds- ,
bury is seven miles distant from the scene of the explosion.