ST. PETER’S CHAPEL.
ON the 8th of January, 1832, a public notice was given at church of a
town meeting to consider the propriety of building a new and more
convenient chapel for the use of the inhabitants; to appropriate for its
site a portion of the town land, and to provide the necessary funds. In
pursuance of which notice the inhabitants of Lowestoft met on Thursday,
the 12th of January following, when it was resolved, that the present
chapel having been found unsuitable in size and situation for the
accommodation of the inhabitants, it was expedient that a new chapel be
erected. That in the impossibility of enlarging the present site, if one
more suitable cannot be found, application be made to the Church Building
Commissioners to purchase a portion of the town land, opposite Back
Street, and abutting on the Beccles road. That the new chapel should
contain not less than 1,209 sittings, and that in order to provide a fund
for the erection and fitting such chapel, subscriptions be collected; in
respect of which, pews and sittings be allotted to the subscribers upon
the terms after mentioned; that application be made to the Society for
Building and Enlarging Churches, for aid; and lastly, voluntary
contributions be collected from the public. That 300 sittings be
disposed of under a faculty to be obtained from the Ordinary. That
subscribers of £25 each be entitled to one sitting for every £5
subscribed. The pews and sittings to be allotted to each subscriber by
ballot, &c. That no expense be incurred relative to providing such a
site for building new chapel, until the necessary funds, which were
estimated at £2500, be subscribed and raised; and that a committee of
inhabitants be formed to carry these resolutions into effect.
Subscriptions for pews were immediately entered into, which amounted to
£790, besides donations of £130; of which the Rev. F. Cunningham, the
Vicar, gave £100. On the 13th of January, at a meeting held in the town
chamber, it was further resolved, that personal application should be
made throughout the town for subscriptions and donations, and that
applications should be made to different architects for plans and
estimates. On the 16th of February, the site of the proposed building
was determined on, and the draft of an application to the Incorporated
Society for promoting the enlargement, building, and repairing of
Churches and Chapels, was prepared; which Society shortly after announced
a grant of £600 towards the purposes required.
On the 17th of May, an application was made to Mr. Kitson, the Bishop’s
Secretary and Registrar, inquiring whether the Marriage Act would allow
of the publication of banns and celebration of marriages in the new
chapel intended to be erected at Lowestoft, and if so, whether the Bishop
would be willing to grant a license for the above purposes. Mr. Kitson’s
reply stated, that the intended new chapel not being one “having a
chapelry thereto annexed,” nor, “one situated in an extra-parochial
place,” did not come within the provisions of the Marriage Act of the
fourth of Geo. IV, cap. 76; and therefore that publication of banns and
solemnization of marriage cannot be authorised to be performed therein.
On the 24th of May, in consequence of the exertions of the Vicar and the
principal inhabitants of the town, a sum of very nearly £2,500 had been
raised, including the grant from the Incorporated Society; and four days
after, Mr. Brown, the architect selected by the committee, attended at
Lowestoft with his plans, which were examined and approved, with a
trifling exception. After divers tenders and propositions, that of Mr.
John Bunn, of Norwich, to build the chapel with white brick, including
the palisades, fencing, and boundry wall, for £2,626, was agreed on, and
signed on the 30th of July; at which time the sum of £75 was ordered to
be paid to Messrs. Reeve, Elph, and Cleveland, the trustees appointed by
the feoffees of the town land, as the piece of the site for the chapel;
and the further sum of £10, being the charge of the Solicitor of the
Treasury, relative to the conveyance.
On Monday, August the 6th, 1832, the first stone of the new chapel was
laid in the presence of a vast concourse of the inhabitants and visitors.
The committee, the contractor, and architect, met at the vicarage-house,
whence they proceeded to the ground. Two hundred and forty children—the
Sunday and endowed schools belonging to the established church—had also
been brought together. After an explanation of the object of the
meeting, the Vicar laid the first stone, in which was deposited a piece
of money, of the coinage of William IV., and a plate engraven as follows:
LOWESTOFT.
THE FIRST STONE OF THIS
CHAPEL,
TO BE CALLED BY THE NAME OF
SAINT PETER,
AND ERECTED
BY SUBSCRIPTIONS AND VOLUNTARY
CONTRIBUTIONS, WITH THE AID OF THE
INCORPORATED SOCIETY FOR
BUILDING AND ENLARGING CHURCHES,
WAS LAID ON THE 6TH DAY OF AUGUST,
IN THE 3RD YEAR OF THE REIGN OF HIS
MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY,
WILLIAM THE FOURTH;
1832;
BY THE
REV. FRANCIS CUNNINGHAM, M.A., VICAR.
* * * * *
JOHN BROWN, ARCHITECT.
* * * * *
After this the Vicar offered up a prayer composed for the occasion, and
the whole assembly sang the 100th Psalm. On the 15th of August, 1833,
Dr. Charles Sumner, Lord Bishop of Winchester, under a commission given
to him by the Bishop of this diocese, proceeded to the act of
consecration. Prayers were read by the Vicar, and the sermon preached by
the Bishop; the text being taken from the 122nd Psalm, and 7th verse.
The subject of the Prelate’s sermon was the _Peace_ attendant upon a
knowledge of the truths of the Gospel:—that Peace beautifully promoted by
the various services of our church, and an application as to the
possession of this Peace on the part of those present. A collection was
made after the sermon of £56 13s. 6d. On Sunday August the 25th, the
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was administered for the first time at the
communion table to 140 persons.
On the 15th of October following, a certificate was forwarded to the
Secretary of the Incorporated Society, informing him, that the chapel had
been completed in the substantial and workmanlike manner, and was capable
of accommodating 1215 persons, including 900 free sittings. In
consequence of subsequent arrangements, these sitting have been increased
to 1263; of which 939 are free.
It appears that upon the completion of the work, and the putting up of a
bell, weighing about 6 cwt., a sum of £196 6s. 5d. was required for the
payment of all the bills and expenses, which the vicar generously
consented to advance by way of loan. Of this debt £140 18s. 9d. were
repaid; so that the final deficit paid by Mr. Cunningham was £55 7s. 8d.
It should be recorded, that an offer was made by Mr. Robert Allen, an
inhabitant of Lowestoft, to present to the chapel, glass for the east
window, painted by himself at the advanced age of eighty-seven,
representing the king’s arms, &c. But on consulting the architect, it
was judged that this glass was not in character with the design of the
building, and that, therefore, plain glass would be adopted to prevent
the glare to which, otherwise, the congregation would be exposed. A copy
of the original faculty for erecting this edifice is deposited in the
chest of Lowestoft, and the opinion of Dr. Lushington and Mr. Kitson,
respecting the faculty pews are in the hands of the Vicar; from whose
careful and well-arranged minutes of the proceedings adopted throughout
the whole business, the preceding remarks have been extracted.
Among the notes attached to these records, it stated that “the
proposition is to build a chapel in a parish, where there is a parish
church, but so distantly situated from the town, as, under any
circumstances, to be of no use, and occasionally insufficient.” The
particulars are as follows:
The parish church of Lowestoft was placed upwards of 500 years since
in its present situation, under the impression as it is supposed,
that if nearer to the sea, it might, at no great length of time, be
destroyed by its encroachments. But the sea, instead of advancing,
has continued to recede, and now a new town has sprung up on the
beach, and the church is left, even in fine weather, out of the reach
of a considerable part of the population. In the inclement weather
to which so frequently the easternmost point of England is exposed,
the church is not opened, and it would be highly inexpedient to hold
an evening service in it, at any time. In order to meet the actual
necessities of the place, part of a town house has been used by a
license of Bishop Parkhurst, as a chapel, since the year 1572, on
occasions, ‘hiberno præsertim tempore,’ according to the original
document—when the people cannot without great inconvenience get to
church. But this expedient is found insufficient. The chapel will
hold between three and four hundred persons, but it is usually so
filled, that when it is used, numbers do not attempt to go at all;
and many who at all events, will attend a public service, are driven
to the Dissenting Meeting Houses. Some peculiar circumstances,
connected with the town, make a new provision for public worship
absolutely necessary. In the bathing season the church is not
sufficiently large for the congregation, and then it would be
expedient, if circumstances permitted, to open a second place of
worship. Moreover, a harbour, for which the Government is about to
grant a loan of £50,000, will, at no distant period, be opened; and
Lowestoft, in the course of a short time, will become a commencing
point to a navigation, which is likely to extend through a large part
of Suffolk and Norfolk. For the persons attendant upon this harbour
the church is most inconveniently situated.
In a notice of the new chapel, printed in the provincial journals at the
time of its foundation, its architecture was said to be in the style of
the Temple Church at London. Wherein the similitude consists, the writer
is unable to determine; unless, indeed, the presence of long narrow
windows, unaccompanied by the charming proportions and graceful
decorations of the proud Crusaders’ church, be alone able to constitute
its resemblance.