Bridge Village Hall and the early history of Methodism in Bridge

The Methodist Chapel as it now stands in Bridge has recently celebrated its centenary, for the ‘Iron
Chapel’ in Patrixbourne Road was erected in 1894. The then Minister, William Rodwell Jones (who
lived in Canterbury) signed the application to the Registrar General for use by the Wesleyan
Methodis ;s on June 22"d of that year. The application to build had been submitted to the Chapel
Committee in Manchester on April 301‘ by Mr Jones, Thomas Grant Cozens (see also below), AJ
Baker and J abez James Lintott, the estimated cost being £177. This sum had to suffice for all
possible costs, including purchase of the land, fencing, architect's commissions and so on. A further
condition was that all liabilities had to be defrayed within twelve months after the opening of the
Chapel, so as to leave no debt whatsoever. Sanction for the building furthermore was given only

grudgingly, for a handwritten note is appended to the form:

The Committee strongly object to Iron Chapels. In their opinion a good substantial brick building would be far more
satisfactory in the end [and] more economical. Moreover the Committee would be prepared to aid in the latter but are
precluded from doing so from allowing debt on Iron buildings.

In spite therefore of no pecuniary help from Manchester the money was raised and the building
completed and fitted out well under budget with seating, hymn books, mats and oil lighting for a
total sum of £139-17s-0%d. For more than 100 years now it has served its purpose, and perhaps it
has confounded everyone by being more economical than brick?

But what of the period before 1894? The early history of the Methodist Church is complicated by
disputes over fine points of doctrine and organisation, which led to the formation of numerous
breakaway groups, the reasons for which are not of importance here. They did however result in one
decision which has left its mark on the village and in which the Marchioness Conyngham was
closely involved.

The first record of Methodism in the village is said to be a minute of 1823 authorising one William
Fordred to rent a house for Methodist Meetings ‘at no more than 2/6 per week’. Whetier this was an
option taken up is not certain, and William Fordred does not reappear, but the followfng year
support for the cause was evidently already sufficiently strong for the trustees in Canterbury to feel
able to buy a plot of land for £50 on which to erect their own Chapel. This was indeed a plot very
conveniently and prominently situated, with a frontage of 33 feet on the south-west s'de of Bridge
Street, and extending back some 97 feet, adjacent to land belonging to the Rev. Richard Barham,
who at the time owned Bridge Farm. This is the site on which the present Village Ha'.l stands.

The earliest record of ownership of the land ascribes it to William Ottoway, who owned various
properties in the county. On his death his sons sold this piece, which at the time consisted of a
house and garden plot, to Stephen Simmonds for £100, in January 1819. Simmonds didn't enjoy the
property for long however. He was in debt and died intestate leaving four sons, only one of whom
(John) was of age, a few years later.

Joseph Duplock of Ramsgate, gentleman, was the person who through Simmonds‘ debts held claim
on the property, and it was he who, presumably in agreement with John, sold it on to the Wesleyan
Methodist Trustees in June 1824. Their names are worth recording here, though none lived in
Bridge:

"Thomas Pilcher of St. Dunstan's in Canterbury, Wheelwright,

Daniel Gouger of Kingston, Miller,

"Thomas Grant of Kingston, Farmer,

James Sutherland of Canterbury, Tailor,

Henry Stickalls of Canterbury, Clothier,

Thomas Hobday of Canterbury, Coal merchant,

“homas F inch Cozens of Canterbury, Builder,

.1 onathan Bundock of Canterbury, Upholsterer,

Robert Clarke of Canterbury, Butcher,

William Clay of Canterbury, Hatter,

r-

William Potter of Canterbury, Cordwainer.

As solid tradesmen they were doubtless aware that Mr Duplock's authority to sell was not 100%
secure, for they also required an indemnity from him to the tune of £150 in case any of the younger
Simmonds boys (who were under 15 years old) should later file a claim, contending that they had
not been party to the sale.

With the property now in their hands, the Wesleyans began to build, and eventually spent £320 on
constructing and furnishing the structure which is now the front portion of the Village Hall. Some
years later a note happily records that the adjacent house is tenanted by a Mr Wood, Cordwainer (ie
shoemaker) 'with shoemaker's shop, garden and appurtenances together with a Wesleyan Methodist
Chapel’. A photograph of the Village hall, or Reading Room as it then was, taken in the early 1900's
still shows the shop as a 'leather store’ adjacent to the hall.

To begin with the chapel flourished. The surviving March-July preaching plan of 1827 shows that
services were held twice every Sunday, at 10.30am and 6.30pm, or at 10.30am and 2.30pm in
alternate weeks. A list of preachers, several of whom appear as the Trustees above, is appended:
Cusworth; Stones; Langstone; Hobday; H'lls; Coulter; Stubberfield; Crippen; Cozens; Bundock;
Corbet; Vile; H.Coulter; White; Read; Ashwell; Masters; Tappenden; Clay; Martin; Bate; Dyason;
Luck; Ladd; Laker; Royce (on trial)

The 1820's, leading to the Reform Act of 1832 however, were marked by a period of political
turbulence which was also reflected in the development of Methodism. Such agitation resulted in a
series of secessions focussed on the tensions existing between the ministers, bolstered by the well-
to-do laity, and the rest of the people generally. While at that time they did not in general affect the
development of the creed, the unrest culminated in 1850 with the formation of the ‘Methodist Free
Churches‘ and other groups, and between 1850 and 1855 the ‘Connexion’ lost some 100,000
members, nearly one third of the total. '

Bridge was evidently not untouched by these events, for in 1851 permission was sought from (and
given by) the President at a conference in Sheffield for the building to be sold, as there had been ‘no
attendance at late years at Wesleyan Chapel — hence their desire to sell.’ The form of consent was
eventually signed by ‘John Scott, 16 August 1852'.

Where had the people gone? A letter from a local solicitor in the Conyngham papers (Mr R Pilcher)
to another in London (probably Lady Conyngham's) dated 5 September 1853 reveals that some had
undoubtedly reverted to Anglicanism, but others had joined the secessionists:

I am told . . . that no sale is valid unless the consent of the president be had — :his was obtained 2 years since

when the idea of selling the estate was first thought about — owing I think to the Rev Mr Stevenson [the vicar
of Patrixbourne & Bridge] drawing the Wesleyans to the parish church - a sect called 'Ranters' now have the
chapel at £4 per annum and they disturb the whole neighbourhood. The house lets for £10.

The OED offers the following gloss on 'Ranters':
Ranter: Applied to members of the Primitive Methodist body, which originated in 1807-10.
It then quotes the History of the Primitive Methodists by H Bourne:

When these . . . meetings were closed, the praying people, in returning home, were accustomed to sing

through the streets. . . This circumstance procured them the name of Ranters; and the name of Ranter, which
first arose on this occasion [in 1814], afterwards spread very extensively.

The OED also quotes the Penny Cyclopedia, XV: . . .the Primitive Methodists, who are sometimes
known as Ranters, originated in Staffordshire.

This term describes therefore people of a joyous and evangelical disposition, rather than rowdy. In
Bridge they were however eventually ejected from the Chapel, for, as Mr Pilcher explains:

The Marchioness has verbally agreed to purchase from the Wesleyan Trustees in the Canterbury District, a
house, garden and methodist chapel at Bridge for £270 . . .Her ladyship intends turning the Chapel into a
Lecture Room or a Village Literary Institution, on payment of a shilling a year for the improvements of the
rising generation. ’

In due course the sale was agreed (on 21 July 1854) by the then Trustees, three of whom (Bundock,
Gouger or Gauger and Thomas Finch Cozens) had survived since 1824, the remainder being

Thomas Grant Cozens of Canterbury, Builder, probably the son of TFC, and the same who signed
the petition to the Manchester Chapel Committee forty years later (he was born in 1825),

Francis Hewson of Wickhambreux, Baker,

Thomas Bird of Canterbury, Brushmaker,

Edward Castle of Canterbury, Gardener,

William Frederick Crippen of Camden Town, Grocer,

Thomas Harnett Gifford of Bridge, Cordwainer,

Henry Allsworth of Canterbury, Baker,

John Smith of Canterbury, Carpenter,

Edward Small of Canterbury, Plumber.

All these were required to state that they had been 'in peaceable and uninterrupted possession of the
oroperty for 30 years and upward‘, and knew of no claim of title of possession since 1824. The
*eappearance of the younger Simmonds boys was still therefore evidently a remote possibility, as
Mr Pilcher somewhat deviously notes:

The father . . . died intestate consequently the sons were equally entitled, and had there been a surplus -
under our law of gavelkind John the Elder son did sign as you will observe and the estate passed by
feoffment, I think two of the brothers died. I know and believe he has a Brother living nr Romney - or this
one by the bye may be John - it strikes me that it might be unadvisable to say anything to either on the
subject - it is so far back - I reco lect the [piece] of land when it was a garden abutting to the Dover Road.

The Primitive Methodists, having been evicted from the chapel, presumably met privately for a
while, until they were able to secure a site in Dering Road for a wooden chapel of their own, which
was duly erected in 1868. At the time it was the only building on that side of the road (opposite the
end of Filmer Road) and fairly well separated from other properties. The building survived (though
in the 20'“ century not as a chapel) until 1951, when it was demolished and replaced by a row of
lock-up garages. It is however clearly marked as such in the survey of 1872/1873 (OS 1/2500 map
sheet 47.9W), while there is no indication of a Wesleyan chapel at all. In the last two decades of the
nineteenth century however a movement for Methodist Reunion was gathering pace, and by 1892 a
Methodist Society was re-formed with 14 members, whose efforts then were rewarded with the
erection of the ‘Iron Chapel’. The Primitive Chapel is recorded still on a map of 1898, but by 1907 it
is no longer marked, the building having been taken over as a private house.

The history of Methodism since that time has been for Bridge quiet and relatively uneventful. But
what of the Reading Room? The Chapel as originally built in the 1820's (and shown on the 1873
map) was only half as long as the present main hall. It survived until 1874, when major
improvements were undertaken, 'in celebration of the coming of age of the Marchioness's son‘
(Henry Francis, Viscount Slane), which extended the hall to its present size, and inserted a
fireplace. The front wall abutting the pavement is original, though the windows may have been
replaced. The former 'Village shop’ was erected after 1824, in the gap created between the Chapel
and the earlier property on the corner of Union Road, but the old cordwainer's leather goods shop
has vanished, and the space incorporated into the adjacent property. The Reading Room has
meanwhile served many functions, not least as Canteen and Recreation Room for troops in the First
World War, renamed as the Village Hall in the 1970's and purchased outright in the 1980's from the
Conyngham Estate. The Hunter Room (named after the village doctor Roger Hunter, who practised
here throughout World War 11 until the 1960's) has also been added in recent years.

Sources: 1994 Exhibition documents (board 73);

Conyngham papers (Whitfield) 8.U.438.T.25

MM Raraty

5 April 2000/revised 23 October 2001
© mmr