PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Ebrington Street Primitive Methodists' Chapel was situated in between Numbers 42 and 45 Ebrington Street, on the corner with Park Lane. The original premises were constructed in the 1840s for the Plymouth Brethren, to replace their first meeting place in what became the Temperance hall in Raleigh Street. A branch of the Primitive Methodist Society of London first set up a mission in Plymouth in about 1856 and in 1862 they purchased the old Plymouth Brethren Chapel in Ebrington Street, whose congregation had dwindled. Like most religious bodies of those days, the congregation soon outgrew the premises and on Tuesday August 25th 1868 the memorial stone was laid of a new building at the rear of the old one. It was designed by Mr Rowe, of Plymouth, and built by Mr Couch, of Stonehouse, at a cost of about £300. Beneath the memorial stone, which was tapped in to place by Mr Thomas Nicholson, was laid a bottle containing various religious journals and documents. In 1896-97, when they were contemplating extending the building, they discovered that it was, in fact, unsafe so the decision was taken to construct a completely new one on the same site. The congregation moved to the Corn Exchange, at Plymouth Market, and the Chapel was demolished. Mr H J Snell designed the new building and it was erected by Messrs C H Tozer & Son at a cost of £4,944. With furnishings the total cost was expected to rise to £5,700. Built of limestone, with Bath stone dressings, it had two entrances and galleries around all four sides, with the organ chamber beneath one of them. It would seat some 780 people. In the basement there was a large school room plus six class-rooms, an infant school room, library and two rooms for the caretaker. After a public luncheon in the Corn Exchange, the congregation, friends and visitors moved to the site where the memorial stones were laid on a very wet Wednesday April 7th 1897. The stones were paid by: Mrs W P Curgeaven; Mr & Mrs G Finch; Mrs Crowle, Mr J T Bond; Mr J Yeo; Mr T Brown; and the Reverend R Waters. The new Chapel was opened for worship on Wednesday May 4th 1898. In 1905 the Primitive Methodists sold the Chapel, which had once again become inadequate for their needs, and purchased a commanding site on the corner of Cobourg Street and York Street. By 1935 the building was the home of the Ebrington Billiard Rooms.
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