Broad Chalke Chapel History
United Reformed Church History : Broad Chalke
The gathering is at The Manse (house provided for a Minister), High Lane on 10th July 1901.
It marks the laying of a memorial plaque at first floor level
celebrating the Centenary of the Congregational Church and is dated July 1901 including as noted on the reverse
Mrs Ring, Mrs W Stevens, Mrs A Burroughs, Miss B Wright, Mrs Thomas, Mrs W Stevens, Miss Burroughs, Mr F Witt, Mr J Gurd,
Mr Mills, Mr H Arnold, Mr & Mrs Bailey, Mrs Wheeler, Mrs Parrot, Mr F Arnold, Mrs F Witt, Mrs Wright,
[Edit & spelling :] Mrs Abner Burrough [Elizabeth], Miss Burrough, Mrs Parrett, [Mrs W Stevens is noted twice].
History
The following link gives a brief history of the Congregational Church & URC.
The original non-conformist meeting house was in Chapel Lane (or Springs Lane, originally called Low Lane) off North Street and a Chapel was built there next to the cottage now called Chapel Cottage.
Abner Burrough's widow Elizabeth owned Chapel Cottage in 1900 and rented it to Elias and Mary Case and Fred Thick until her death in 1914. The old Chapel was used as a Sunday School until about 1950 and for band practice until about 1970 when it was converted and made part of Chapel Cottage.
The present United Reformed Church in High Road was built in 1862. Thomas, John, William and Abner Burrough were brothers and Thomas, John and William are mentioned in the Trust Deed dated 15th December 1862; John was a builder living in Bowerchalke and built houses in North Street and Chapel Lane (Low Lane) but it is not known whether he had any part in building the old Chapel or the present one although the Trust Deed shows that he sold the land for the 1862 Chapel for £60. William, John and Abner are buried in the front of the URC graveyard and Thomas is buried in All Saints Church graveyard.
There is a photo of the Chapel in about 1930 here.
Mr Goodfellow in about 1995 converted the existing lean-to vestry extension into a kitchen and extended it to form a cloakroom and toilets.
In 2006 Ian Chalk renovated the Chapel, installing a ramp for disabled access and modifying the interior. The gallery has been maintained but the hall has been split into several rooms. The larger area is used for worship and large meetings while the area under the gallery is two rooms; a general purpose room for meetings or other functions and there is a small office for Church administration which is also used by the community police officers and was used by the Surgery.
The conversion of part of the Chapel into a shop and post office commenced on 25th February 2013.
Some of the information above has been obtained from The Broad Chalke Book and some from Burrough family Wills.
Chapel Trust Deed 1862
The Chapel Trust Deed 1862 (Word Document); the Trust Deed for the Independent Chapel as part of the Congregational Church.
Graves and Inscriptions
The grave positions are shown on this Graves Plan and grave inscriptions on this Inscriptions Schedule 1 (then use the "next" links to see further inscriptions). Graves photos.
Proposal for a shop and post office in the Chapel
See Community Shop for details. The conversion commenced on 25th February 2013.
The Manse, High Lane
The Manse was built on a plot of land on the south side of High Lane. This was given for a nominal ten shillings by Mrs Elizabeth Burrough (Abner's widow) and her daughter Maria Louisa Witt in a Conveyance dated 25th April 1901 to the Trustees of the Congregational Church on condition that the land would be used to build a house for the Minister.
The building costs are listed as:-
| G Mills | brickwork, stonework | 21/08/1901 | £91 19s 3d |
| George Rowsell | carpentry | 02/11/1901 | £126 10s 1d |
| Mr Marks | leadwork | date unknown | £6 12s 0d |
| G Mills | slating, tiling, plastering | 28/11/1901 | £59 15s 9d |
| George Rowsell | carpentry | 30/01/1902 | £100 1s 10½d |
| G Mills | brickwork, plastering, slating, drainage | 02/07/1902 | £83 19s 1½d |
| Total:- | £468 18s 1d | ||
There is an article in the Salisbury Times dated 12th July 1901 relating to the unveiling of a plaque on the wall of the Manse on 10th July and there is a photograph of those attending. The Church didn't waste much time getting the house brickwork built up to first floor level between the Conveyance in April and the commemorative plaque in July.
At some point in time the Minister stopped living there and a tenant Mr D W Barrett, a civil servant, is recorded in a lease dated 27th May 1958 and it seems likely that he was the first tenant. The rent was £104pa.
The next tenant, Mr G H Stuckey, in a lease dated 1st September 1962, was a farmer from near Bristol who had just retired. The rent was £156pa. There was an acrimonious exchange concerning £12 rent. Mr Stuckey said that Mrs Stuckey had delivered it personally to the trustee's house on 9th April 1963, but the trustee denied any knowledge of it.
The rent book was normally signed, but it wasn't in this case because Mrs Stuckey couldn't find the rent book. Mr Stuckey said that the trustee visited him on 10th or 11th April 1963 to sign the rent book but he couldn't find it. The argument got very heated and the Congregational Church Moderator was called in who concluded that the tenant had the better argument because he gave such a good account of the circumstances, time and date of payment and the trustee could only say that he could not remember receiving the rent. The Moderator recommended that the notice to quit should be withdrawn.
The trustee's daughter wrote a long letter to the Moderator accusing him of only considering the tenant's account; she gave the trustee's version of events and said that his reputation would be destroyed. The notice to quit wasn't withdrawn and it appears that the £12 was not subsequently paid. The tenant was evicted on December 25th 1963 as the trustees could not tolerate one of their members being accused of impropriety. The fees for the Solicitor's notice to quit probably cost more than £12 but there's no evidence of the cost.
No problems have been recorded with the next tenant, Mr F A Keating, a chartered accountant, who took on the tenancy in 1963 at £200pa and Mrs Keating still lives there.
The Congregational Church was accepted for membership of the URC and the Scheme of Union in 1973 and there are letters relating to this.
The condition in the original Conveyance that the house should be lived in by the Minister of the Broad Chalke Congregational Church has not been complied with, unless there has been a waiver which isn't recorded. There is a clause that states that the house can be sold and the proceeds applied to purchase or rent another house for the Minister, but the house hasn't been sold. There is another condition that would apply if the Church ceased to be a place of worship, but it is still used for worship.
The only major change has been the Congregational Church becoming part of the United Reformed Church, but this happened after the first tenancy and legal agreements would normally be assigned without change. It begs the question whether the closest relatives of Mrs Burrough and Mrs Witt would have had a claim for recompense or recovery of the land and right to ground rent if the claim had been made at the time of the first tenancy on account of the non-compliance, but the Statute of Limitations would probably prevent a claim now. Mr Pye-Smith who drafted the Conveyance appears to have omitted to cover the above situation.
[Source: Parish Archive]
Chapel reopening on 7th May 2006 after alterations
Another photo of the reopening ceremony on 7th May 2006.