Neston Gospel Hall - and other places of worship in Neston

Corshamside Gospel Hall, Neston

Corshamside

In the  early 19th century Neston did not exist. An area of hamlets including Elley Green, Moor Green, Greenhill and Westwells were all part of what was known as Corshamside, and the little clusters of houses in the area were occupied by farmworkers and quarrymen and their families.  There were several farms, the oldest of which was Overmoor Farm, part of which dates back to the 12th century.  There was no church.

Overmoor Farm 1972

 In 1856 Corshamside Gospel Hall was built on the southern edge of this area in a rural setting where the land adjoins Neston Park.  

A visitor today might wonder why the Gospel Hall was built right out in the country.  But one has only to think back 170 years to the days when people went  everywhere on foot, to realise that it was a central location for villagers of Corsham, Atworth, Wadswick and Corshamside, who walked to the Gospel Hall on Sundays. Unusually, this nonconformist chapel was the first place of worship in the Corshamside area.

 

Gospel Halls as a rule do not have burial grounds, but Corshamside Gospel Hall is unique in Britain in having its own graveyard, which is still in use. This came about because it predated the building of  the Parish Church in Neston, and was therefore the only graveyard in the neighbourhood for a while.

 

 Although the Gospel Hall has been converted into a private house, the graveyard continues to be supervised by the Brethren.

Looked at from the perspective of today, when the industrial infrastructure of the Corsham stone quarries has all but vanished, it is worth noting that the Gospel Hall was built for and by the men who worked in the stone quarries and who used the stone to build their Chapel.

Brethren assemblies

The Gospel Hall was built by the Brethren (sometimes known as the Plymouth Brethren). Their chapels were known as 'Brethren Assemblies' The origins of the Brethren movement date back to the 1830s, when groups of Christians sought to return to the simplicity of worship described in the New Testament and began meeting without clergy to ‘break bread’ (hold communion services), initially in people’s homes. In 1832 Rev John Methuen, the vicar of Corsham, resigned his living to join the group of Brethren in Neston.  In the early days  the group met in Pockeridge House, then owned by Mr John Edridge. (now part of the MoD estate at Basil Hill).

 Subsequently the Gospel Hall and the adjoining ground in Chapel Lane Neston were given to the assembly by Mr. Edridge  as a ‘place of preaching and a graveyard for the society of brethren’. Unfortunately, the generous donor died whilst the hall was being built and was buried alongside it in the graveyard. He died in January 1856 aged 68 years and was the first to be buried there. The local believers erected a large memorial expressing their indebtedness to one ‘who had it in his heart to build this place of worship.’ His relatives sought (but failed) to have his body exhumed, since they did not want him to be buried in some ‘ unconsecrated field ’.   Later in 1856 the Gospel Hall was opened and amongst the trustees were a local gamekeeper, a butcher, a blacksmith, and Captain H. M. Becher who was associated with George Muller of Ashley Down Orphanages in Bristol. The gamekeeper was Daniel Davis,  gamekeeper to Squire George Fuller of Neston Park. In 1864, it is recorded that “Daniel gained a place in history whilst out shooting with Squire George Fuller and his cousin, the African explorer, John Hanning Speke. When climbing over a wall, Capt Speke’s gun discharged with fatal consequences. Daniel was one of the carriers of Speke from the field in Wadswick where he died.”

(For more on Speke, see my entry of January 2020 entitled 'Death in Neston'.     It's at  

https://mpriorblog.blogspot.com/2020/01/death-in-neston_14.html     )

 

Moor Green Baptist Chapel

In 1860 a chapel was built at Moor Green by the Baptists. This photo was taken in 1956 when a stone quarry operated immediately opposite (where Moor Park has subsequently been built).

Moor Green Baptist Chapel, 1956

 The Parish Church

In 1866  the Church of England Parish Church of St Philip and St James was built about half a mile away, and because some of the benefactors of this church lived at Neston Park, it was regularly referred to as Neston Parish Church. Thus 'Neston' came into existence.  

 

Neston Parish Church

But wasn't until the 1970s that Corshamside Gospel Hall changed its name to Neston Gospel Hall. (I was responsible for that! As a member there I persuaded the leadership that a change of name would be a good idea because the public, espedially incomers,  were no longer familiar with where Corshamside was).

Over the past 170 years or so, the Assembly exercised an influence in the surrounding district more than its founders could have ever imagined. Few of the older established families in the area have not had a family member in fellowship at one time or another. In its heyday the gospel hall (which could seat about 120 people) was regularly full, had two choirs, a Sunday-school and a teenagers’ study group.

Neston Gospel Hall 1903

I have many personal memories of the Gospel Hall, having been a member of the congregation for 20 years during the  1970s and 1980s. My first wife Lindsay was buried in the graveyard there. 

As the years have passed, the Gospel Hall (though not its graveyard) has fallen victim like so many other village chapels, schools, post offices and shops to the onslaught of widespread car ownership, which results in local facilities diminishing as people choose instead to travel to nearby towns.  It is now a private home. But there must have been other factors at play too: only a mile or so away the beautiful and historic Monks Chapel survives as a rural place of worship.

 

Monks Chapel

 The Gospel Hall has become a private house, as has Moor Green Baptist Chapel, which at the time of writing this footnote is under extensive renovation.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Corsham Baptist Church is extending its reach by not only using its own premises in Corsham , but also making use of Neston Memorial Hall, where (in 2024) a lively and thriving congregation meets every Sunday morning at 10 a.m.