The Building

By putting different family stories together we can picture what it looked like. The gallery stairs, later boarded off, were inside the church. At the front was a small platform, or rostrum, surrounded by lathe turned posts carrying a rail. The centre was filled with upright pews, with doors to reserve them for the tenants who rented them! At the sides were benches, just one wooden bar for a backrest, as free seats. The Communion table was rather like a farmhouse kitchen table, and may have been one.

A brick plinth, the remains of which were always seen in front of the front pews, was said to have been the base for a heating stove, but the flue must have gone over the preachers head! There were two windows admitting light at the front, but I have heard it said (without confirmation) that the three windows at the back of the gallery were filled with slate and opened later. (The window tax wasn’t repealed until 1837, but it probably was never applied to Churches).