Churchill Methodist Church

Churchill Methodist Church, in the village of Churchill, North Somerset, is a Grade II listed Methodist church on the Somerset Mendip Methodist Circuit. Designed by Foster & Wood, Bristol, of Perpendicular Gothic style, the church opened on 2 May 1881. The schoolroom and coach house, of Elizabethan architecture, were erected before the new church, and opened on 1 June 1879 (Whitsun). Sidney Hill, a wealthy local businessman and benefactor, erected the church and schoolroom as a memorial to his wife.

Churchill Methodist Church
Wesleyan Methodist Memorial Church
Methodist church in Front Street, Churchill.
Churchill Methodist Church
51.334339°N 2.800290°W / 51.334339; -2.800290
LocationChurchill, North Somerset
CountryUnited Kingdom
DenominationMethodist
Membership39 (2018)
WebsiteChurchill Methodist Church
History
Founder(s)Sidney Hill
Dedicated
  • 1 June 1879 (1879-June-01) (Whitsun): Schoolroom
  • 2 May 1881 (1881-May-02): Church
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Architect(s)Foster and Wood of Bristol
Architectural typeMethodist church
StylePerpendicular Gothic
Administration
Circuit
Clergy
Minister(s)Reverend Meg Slingo
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameMethodist church, school room, coach house and attached walls
Designated19 January 1987 (1987-01-19)
Reference no.1157925

The Reverend Meg Slingo (Margaret C. M. Slingo) is the incumbent minister for Churchill. The Anglican and Methodist churches work together in many areas, particularly activities that involve children and initiatives in the parish schools. The schoolroom is now used as a hall and is run by a charity. The hall has a newly refitted kitchen and smaller rooms making it useful for community activities.

History

Methodists in Churchill would meet at a private home (society meetings), until the autumn of 1835, when the first chapel was opened.[1][2][lower-alpha 1] William Baker was a trustee of the chapel by the time the Churchill tithe map had been constructed in 1843.[5] This chapel was demolished in 1880 so that Sidney Hill could erect a new Wesleyan church on adjacent land gifted by William Bobbett.[6][lower-alpha 2] Sidney Hill had married his wife, Mary Ann Bobbett, at the old chapel on 15 June 1864, and erected the new church as a memorial to her after her early death on 7 December 1874(1874-12-07) (aged 35).[8][9][lower-alpha 3] The new church was designed by Foster and Wood of Bristol in Perpendicular Gothic style, and erected by William Veals, master builder of Bristol, at a cost of £3,300.[2] Hill would engage the same firm of architects in 1897 to design the nearby clock tower.[10][lower-alpha 4] The church opened on 2 May 1881 (1881-05-02) with a dedication and sacramental service commencing at 2:00 pm.[12]

The schoolroom and coach house, of Elizabethan architecture, were erected before the new church, and opened on Whitsun, 1 June 1879 (1879-06-01).[13] These buildings cost £1,300 to build and the schoolroom was later linked to the new church by a cloister.[2] Hill also vested in trustees money to provide an income for the maintenance of the chapel and schoolroom.[6][lower-alpha 5] In 1898, Sidney Hill funded the addition of a porch that was designed by Foster and Wood and built by Henry Rose of Churchill.[15]

In 1906, Sidney Hill gifted land at the back of the church for a burial ground extension. The ground was consecrated in June of that year.[16][lower-alpha 6] The church closed in August 1924 so that the organ could be refurbished and four stops added. The opportunity was also taken to provide better accommodation for the choir. Services were held in the schoolroom until the church was reopened on 27 November 1924 with a service held in the afternoon.[18] On 1 September 1933, the Methodist circuits of Draycott, Cheddar, Congresbury and Palmer's Green, were united to form one circuit, under the name of the Cheddar Valley Methodist Circuit.[19]

Design and features

Church
Gable end of schoolroom (dated 1879) and porte-cochère to car park.
Cloister from the porte-cochère to the schoolroom at Churchill Methodist church.

The church consists of a chancel, nave chancel, and two transepts, with a gallery at one end facing the pulpit.[lower-alpha 7] There is a staircase turret with pyramidal cap to the north east for access to the gallery.[21] An organ is installed in the eastern transept. It cased with freestone, and has an arched pitch pine ceiling, divided into panels by moulded ribs, bearing on attached stone shafts. At the extreme end of the chancel, immediately above the communion table, there is memorial window by Clayton and Bell, representing Dorcas amidst the people that she helped, in her illness, in her death, and resurrection.[2] Immediately beneath the memorial window, and extending the whole length of communion platform, there is brass plate with the following inscription:[2]

This building was erected in the year of our Lord 1880, by Sidney Hill, Esq., of Langford-house, to the glory of God, and in memory of the life and labours (in this parish, and at Port Elizabeth, South Africa), of his beloved wife, Mary Ann, who was born in Bristol, March 6th, 1839, and died at Bournemouth, Dec. 7th, 1874.

In April 1894, Sidney Hill gifted four stained glass windows to the church. The windows were made by Joseph Bell and Sons, of College Green, Bristol, and represent:[22][lower-alpha 8]

The first three subjects are installed in windows on one side of the building, and Lord blessing little children is installed in the transept. Each subject is arranged to occupy three panels formed by canopy work and casements.[lower-alpha 9] Lord blessing little children follows the same arrangement but angels are displayed in the stone work of the tracery. Each of the windows has a scriptural text at the foot of the lights.

Porch
Porch at the front of Churchill Methodist church.

The porch was built in Perpendicular Gothic style, with Rowberrow stone and Doulting freestone dressings. The side doors are made of teak, the roof of pitch pine, with encaustic floor tiles. The stained glass windows were made by James Bell and Son, College Green, Bristol, and represent:[15][lower-alpha 10]

On each sole of the church entrance is a pedestal brought from Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the gift of William Sidney Adams, of South Africa, that held lamps when the porch was first opened.[lower-alpha 11] A large number of Wesleyans from all parts of the Circuit attended the opening ceremony on 26 October 1898.[15]

Schoolroom

From January 1902, further stained glass windows were installed in the schoolroom. The first window to be installed was Suffer little children to come unto me, displayed in three windows, and with the text displayed at the foot of the middle window. The windows were funded by Sidney Hill and designed by James Paxton Brown Young of Horfield, Bristol.[26] Young was a former employee of Joseph Bell and Sons, and at that time, was the figure glass painting artist for the stained glass in the chapel.[27][lower-alpha 12] Young formulated designs for a number of other windows in the school:[29]

Ministers

The Reverend Meg (Margaret C. M. Slingo) is the incumbent minister covering Churchill. She was a former minister of Salem Methodist Church, Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire, before being inducted to the Somerset Mendip Methodist circuit on the 30 August 2019 in a ceremony at Wells Methodist church.[31][32]

Methodist Circuit Ministers covering Churchill from 1899 onwards
Appointed Minister[33][34] Circuit Notes Ref.
1899 Rev. Richard Starling Boulter (1848–1944) Banwell [35]
1903 Rev. Henry Jefford (1841–1907) Banwell [36]
1905 Rev. John Edward Winter (1845–1915) Banwell [37]
1908 Rev. Stephen James Little (1854–1928) Cheddar and Banwell [38]
1910 Rev. Robert Hugh Alfred Morton (1867–1947) Cheddar and Banwell [39][40]
1913 Rev. William John May (1882–1959) Cheddar and Banwell [41]
1916 Rev. George Arthur Swaine (1876–1949) Cheddar and Banwell Formerly of Sheffield. [42]
1919 Rev. Robert Maxwell Carnson (1889–1973) Cheddar and Banwell He was a missionary to China, a serviceman in World War I, and a garrison chaplain during World War II. He was also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a writer.[lower-alpha 14] [45][46]
1921 Rev. Charles Povah Bardsley (1887–1969) Cheddar and Banwell [47][48]
1924 Rev. Alfred George Woodnutt (1884–1971) Cheddar and Banwell [47][48]
1927 Rev. Reginald Francis Haslock (1891–1949) Cheddar and Banwell [49]
1931 Rev. Donald Streat (1891–1968) Cheddar and Banwell South African missionary. [50][51]
1934 Rev. Marmaduke Roy Smith (1894–1979) Cheddar Valley Smith served for four years in the war winning a Military Cross. His previous circuit was the Devon and Dorset Mission. [50][52]
1938 Rev. Albert Harvey (1900–1997) Cheddar Valley From Otley, Yorkshire. He left to take up an appointment as the second minister on the Bridlington Quay circuit. [53][54]
1944 Rev. Christopher William Jarvis (1909–1978) Cheddar Valley He was a minister at Street Methodist Church. [53][55]
1949 Rev. Morgan William Slade (1897–1954) Cheddar Valley Former minister at Rowe Methodist Church, St Breward. [56][55]
1952 Rev. Maurice Whittaker Kirk (1914–1993) Cheddar Valley Moved to Cornwall. [57][58]
1957 Rev. Clifford Sutton (1917–1996) Cheddar Valley Former minister at Wolverhampton. [58]
1964 Rev. Leonard Ralph Edwards (1922–1996) Cheddar Valley [59]
1969 Rev. Raymond George Morris (1911–2003) Cheddar Valley Former minister on the Bristol circuit. [60]
1972 Rev. John Douglas Ashplant (1920–2017) Cheddar Valley He was a free church adviser to Westward Television and made several appearances on their "Faith for Life" programmes. [61][62]
1981 Rev. Douglas Richard Westington (1920–2013) Cheddar Valley [63]

See also

Footnotes
  1. Note, some sources state that the original chapel was opened in 1830 by Richard Treffry, senior.[3] Richard Treffry was president of the Wesleyan Conference in 1833.[4]
  2. William Bobbett was a close friend, the leader in society meetings at Old Market Street chapel, Bristol, and the uncle of Hill's wife, Mary Ann Bobbett. Hill would later dedicate Shipham Methodist Chapel to the memory of William Bobbett.[7]
  3. The cemetery to the west of the church is where the old chapel used to stand.[2]
  4. Foster and Wood were a busy architectural practice in Victorian Bristol and many landmark Bristol buildings were designed by them, including Fosters Almshouse (1861), Colston Hall (1864), the Grand Hotel on Broad Street (1864–1869), Bristol Grammar School (1875), as well as a large number of Wesleyan chapels throughout the city.[11]
  5. The trustees of the Churchill Memorial Chapel and School Trust.[14]
  6. The Sunday school had been running since 1877 when Sidney Hill moved to the area after purchasing Langford House.[17][6]
  7. The transept pews were removed in 2004.[20]
  8. See also Arnold Wathen Robinson.
  9. For a history of stained glass windows in England, see The Development of Stained Glass in England. A Brief History of Stylistic Development in English Stained Glass.
  10. Joseph Bell, the maker of the original stained glass windows in the church, had died on 28 August 1895.[23]
  11. William Sidney Adams married Fanny Ellen Bobbett, the younger sister of Sidney Hill's wife, Mary Ann, at the Methodist church in Churchill on 6 December 1898.[24] Fanny Ellen is interred in the cemetery at the front of the church, in the same grave as her uncle, William Bobbett, and next to the grave of Sidney and Mary Ann Hill.[25]
  12. Young was one of the best known stained glass experts in England, and was responsible for many beautiful windows in Bristol Cathedral and elsewhere.[28]
  13. "He returned with them to Nazareth and was obedient to them".[30]
  14. Amongst his works is the science fiction novel Monkeys of Hai Tu. It is set in a secret Chinese city guarded by fascisti-like guards, and cut-off from the rest of the world, but nevertheless, possessing electric light and escalators.[43][44]

References
  1. Wesley, John (1827). The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M. 4. J. Kershaw. p. 460location=London. OCLC 847965831. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  2. "Churchill. The New Wesleyan Memorial Chapel". Weston Mercury. 14 May 1881. p. 2. Retrieved 10 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Religious Intelligence. Wesleyan". The Cornishman. 19 May 1881. p. 6. OCLC 863337052. Retrieved 23 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. Vickers, John A. (2020). "Treffry, Richard". A Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  5. Butler, W. F. (2002). Churchill People and Places. Bristol: University of Bristol. p. 84. OCLC 852169139.
  6. "Death of Mr. Sidney Hill, J.P.". Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser. 7 March 1908. p. 8. Retrieved 17 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive. A well-known philanthropist.
  7. "New Memorial Wesleyan Chapel Shipham". Western Daily Press. 4 April 1893. p. 3. Retrieved 17 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Churchill". Western Daily Press. 18 June 1864. p. 3. OCLC 949912923. Retrieved 17 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "Deaths". Bristol Times and Mirror. 9 December 1874. p. 4. OCLC 2252826. Retrieved 7 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive. December 7, at Bournemouth, aged 35, Mary Ann, wife of Sidney Hill, merchant, of London, and Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and eldest daughter of J. W. Bobbett, cornfactor, Bristol.
  10. Royal Institute of British Architects (March 1917). Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Joseph Foster Wood: Memoir. Third. 24. London: Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. p. 120. ISSN 0035-8932. OCLC 1764591. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  11. Record relating to Foster & Wood, Architects. Bristol: Bristol Archives. 1870. 45855. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  12. "Churchill". Weston Mercury. 7 May 1881. p. 8. Retrieved 23 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. "News of the District. Churchill". Weston Mercury. 22 May 1880. p. 5. OCLC 751662463. Retrieved 25 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. Copy Deed of Gift. Churchill Memorial Chapel and School Trust: Sidney Hill of Langford House, Langford, Somerset to trustees, of schoolroom, clock tower and land. 40314: Records of the West Mendip Methodist Circuit and associated circuits and churches. Bristol: Bristol Archives. 31 July 1901. 40314/Ch/8i. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
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  16. "Wesleyan Synon at Bristol. Churchill". Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser. 12 May 1906. p. 2. Retrieved 24 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. Sunday School Admissions. 40314: Records of the West Mendip Methodist Circuit and associated circuits and churches. Churchill. Bristol: Bristol Archives. 1877. 40314/Ch/4/b. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
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  19. "Draycott. Circuit Quarterly Meeting". Wells Journal. 23 June 1933. p. 3. Retrieved 27 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. Photographs of the transept pews prior to their removal. Bristol: Bristol Archives. 2004. 40314/Ch/18. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  21. Historic England. "Methodist church, school room, coach house and attached walls (1157925)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
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  23. "Death". Western Daily Press. 29 August 1895. p. 8. Retrieved 24 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  24. "Marriages". Wells Journal. 15 December 1898. p. 5. OCLC 1065219374. Retrieved 24 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive. On the 6th inst., at the Wesieyan chupel, Churchill, by the Rev. W. H. Major, William Sidney Adams, of South Africa, to Fanny Ellen, daughter of John Winter Bobbett, of Clifton.
  25. "Items of Local News". Western Daily Press. 31 January 1916. p. 5. Retrieved 24 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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