Here's another nonconformist chapel, this time converted to a house. Unlike the one at Duntisbourne Abbots in the previous post, this Independent Chapel is built in brick and has pointed Gothic lancet windows. Brick, cheap and unpretentious, was often used to build dissenting chapels, and this humble material was often looked down on by Victorian Anglicans, who preferred their churches made of stone. Stone – worked by craftsmen and adorned with carving – was seen as the building material that had the highest status; brick came a poor second. But you'd have to be hard-hearted to look down on this lovely speckled Warwickshire brickwork. In addition, again in contrast to Duntisbourne Abbots, this chapel's date stone has been preserved in situ, revealing something of the building's history to passers-by.
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I clicked on the picture just to try and make out the date - 1836 - and suddenly the whole building leaps out of the computer at you - with the word INDEPENDENT emblazoned across the screen. And you realise what a brave and lonely adventure it was for these dissenting communities, breaking themselves free from the English class system (which is the same thing as saying the English political system or social system at this date).
Yes, even in the 19th century it was a big move to break away from the established church. Dissenters faced a lot of prejudice and obstruction. Think of all the unflattering portraits of them in Victorian novels, and indeed of the accounts in architectural writing, where objections to harsh red brick are barely veiled criticisms of religious views of the builders and worshippers. And, most dissenters being poor, they had to work really hard to build a chapel like this. The boldness of those letters in low relief speaks eloquently of their spirit and courage.
The old Congregational Chapel in Walpole still looks like a pair of Suffolk cream-washed cottages, much as it was when it was deemed necessary for the dissenters to disguise their activities. Even now the only clues as to its use are tombstones poking up through the long grass and a notice board by the iron gate.
I like the really early chapels, which are often almost indistinguishable from houses from the outside. They look like this both because the dissenters had to disguise their activities and also because a domestic setting often seemed natural to them – many groups began in people's houses as 'cottage meetings' or similar gatherings.
My great grandfather Henry Morgan(b.1846 B.I - d.1935 B.I.) was-my father told me- on the local Parish Council and ran this chapel.He worked as a stationary engine driver at the Cement works. He is buried with his wife Elizabeth in the local out-of-town cemetary.
Thank you so much. Fascinating to learn about the people connected to the buildings I've visited or seen.
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