PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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The East Street Bible Christian Chapel in Stonehouse was located on the south side of East Street, adjacent to the Council School. In around 1831 the Bible Christian movement first started to hold services at Stonehouse. The premises were in Market Street but this soon became too small for the congregation and it was necessary to find larger accommodation. A site was acquired on the western side of Battery Field, fronting East Street, and there at 2.30pm on Monday June 15th 1857 Mr Alfred Rooker laid the foundation stone. The cost of the building would be around £600 and it was expected to accommodate 300 worshippers. Designed by Mr Alfred Norman and built by Mr Dingle of Stonehouse at a cost of £560, the East Street Bible Christian Chapel was opened with a service at 11am on Friday January 1st 1858. These premises then served the need until 1884, when the success of the Sunday School made it necessary to erect additional classrooms. At the same time, the existing building was renovated. In 1886 the Chapel exterior was cemented, the front was painted, the entrances to the schoolroom was flagged, the windows were furnished with cathedral glass and a new lamp installed at the main entrance. All this was done under the direction of the architect, Mr H J Snell. During the early months of 1887, the interior was completely refurbished, with Messrs Ayres & Foster of Battery Street, Stonehouse, fitting new iron tubing to supply gas to forty-six lights positioned in the centre of the white painted ceiling and a further fourteen, on polished brass brackets, distributed throughout the building. They also did the painting. At the southern end of the building a new gallery was installed for the singers above a carved architrave, in the centre of which was painted a decorative ribbon with the text 'Immanuel, God with us'. The rostrum, approached by a winding staircase of mahogany rails supported on cast-iron ornamental panel balusters, was remodelled and greatly improved. A new dais with a mahogany rail was also installed. The carpentry work was done by Messrs Foster & Blatchford, of Stonehouse and Laira. The seats had been widened and tilted and had book trays and even hat rails. These, along with the roof timbers, had been thoroughly cleaned, stained and varnished. The walls were repainted and covered by a darker, panelled dado just above seat level. The gallery front, rostrum, columns, communion standards had all been picked out in beautiful tints and gilded in gold. The furnishings had been supplied by Messrs Harding & Son of Union Street, Plymouth. All that work cost £350. There was also brand new two manual harmonium, with octave coupler, which had cost £80. The refurbished Chapel was re-opened on Wednesday March 16th 1887 with a service at 3.30pm led by the Reverend John Dymond of Exeter. This was followed at 5.30pm by a public tea and at 7.30pm by a public meeting addressed by various local worthies. Further improvements were made in 1905, when the Sunday School was enlarged again and a new organ manufactured by Messrs Hele's was installed.
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