Baptist Chapel

Redhill Baptist Chapel, Station Road

This is a Baptist chapel including Sunday School and vestry, dated 1858 according to a tablet on the front gable. Built in a classical style, the chapel is constructed in yellow brick laid in flemish bond with polychrome red brick dressings and a slate roof.

The building is rectangular in plan, with the Sunday School and vestry positioned behind the main chapel. The front elevation features a gable with overhanging eaves supported by a modillion cornice. At the centre of the gable sits the dated tablet inscribed "BAPTIST CHAPEL ERECTED 1858". A red brick band runs across at gable level, with brick quoins and window dressings set against a stuccoed plinth. The front has three metal casement windows: a central two-light fixed round-headed window with a brick Gibbs surround, flanked by two larger round-headed windows, also with brick Gibbs surrounds and centre panes that open inwardly. A central projecting gabled porch with slate roof contains double doors, each with two beaded-moulded panels. To the left, part of the original cast iron spear railings remain, though the front section has been replaced with a three-foot high late 19th-century brown brick wall with four panels and stone coping. The left elevation has two round-headed windows; the right elevation has two round-headed windows, a sash window with glazing bars, and a door with four flush panels. The rear elevation retains its original wall with a 12-pane sash window, though a late 20th-century yellow brick lean-to extension has been added.

The interior comprises three bays with a boarded kingpost roof punctuated by two circular cast iron ventilation apertures. Behind the porch stands a wooden three-tier panelled screen, with plank dado panelling surviving on all four walls. Fixed bench seating occupies the centre and sides. The pulpit is a wooden square structure with sunk panels divided into three by ribs, accessed by steps with moulded balusters, chamfered newel posts and a door. The rear wall has two four-panelled doors: the left leads to the former Sunday School and the right to the vestry. Above each door is a stone pedimented memorial tablet—the left commemorates George Balcliff, Deacon, died 1917, and the right Edwin Pickwell, Pastor, died 1918. All internal joinery is painted and wood grained. An immersion tank for baptism survives beneath the floor. The rear spaces comprise the Sunday School to the left and vestry to the right, divided by an original wooden five-panel screen with three folding doors. The vestry contains a wooden fireplace with pilasters and a round-headed cast iron firegrate.

When built, the chapel stood in open countryside surrounded by fields or green space with nearby cottages, as shown in a contemporary illustration. It now occupies a tightly built urban setting in the town centre, surrounded by later buildings.

This is a little-altered simple classical rectangular brick Strict Baptist chapel, notable for the rare survival of a complete interior scheme from 1858, including the original panelled screen, fixed benches and pulpit.