Old Baptist Chapel

TEWKESBURY

SO8932 OLD BAPTIST CHAPEL COURT 859-1/6/317 (North side) 04/03/52 Old Baptist Chapel (Formerly Listed as: CHURCH STREET Old Baptist Chapel, Old Baptist Chapel Court)

GV II*

Formerly known as: Baptist Chapel CHURCH STREET. Former Baptist Chapel, now information and display area. Late C15, adapted for chapel use c1690 and 'modernised' in c1720; substantially restored c1980. Square panel timber-frame with tension bracing, plaster infill, tile roof. An original hall house adapted for chapel use, and restored to the supposed state of c1720; a single space, with galleries on 3 sides, and a partitioned-off minister's room. To the court in heavily restored framing on small stone plinth are 4 two-light casements with leading at first floor and 2 at ground floor; at centre are 2 full height 2+1 light multi-pane casements with a central structural post. Far left is 6-panel flush-beaded door, and at right end a similar door in moulded surround. At outer end the timber-framed gable partly concealed by adjacent brick cottages. INTERIOR is one large space with gallery on 3 sides, plastered segmental barrel ceiling, with 5 exposed tie-rods, exposed framing to walls. Galleries, approached by C20 staircases, supported on slender turned Doric columns to very high plinths, carrying heavy beam on brackets at street end, and very heavy stopped-chamfer beam at west (burial ground) end, panelled gallery fronts. At west end first floor the former minister's room enclosed by partition, and with fireplace. Good stained and grained pulpit with dentilled cornice and back board, centre of Court side, a few early benches. A new larger Baptist Chapel opened in 1805, and the old building sub-divided into 2 cottages, with remains of the Chapel between. Rear balcony may have been added in 1905. The whole was acquired by Tewkesbury Borough Council in 1976, and restored to its present condition at a cost of »116,000, including HBC grant of »44,000. The structure is now primarily of historical interest. (Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting-houses: Stell C: Gloucestershire: London: 1986-: 98; The Old Baptist Chapel, Tewkesbury: Story of its Development...: Tewkesbury: 1970-; Victoria County History: Gloucestershire: London: 1968-: 163).

Listing NGR: SO8903232556