Moravian Chapel And No. 12 Parsons Street

MORAVIAN CHAPEL AND NO. 12 PARSONS STREET

A Moravian chapel and manse built in 1799, altered in the early and late 19th century with an additional chapel added to the north-west in 1906 by A.E. Allen of Banbury.

Materials and Construction

The chapel and manse are built of red and occasional purple brick, generally laid in Flemish bond, on an ironstone plinth. The shallow gable roof has a slate covering and there is a ridge stack at the south-east end. The 1906 chapel is of red brick with moulded brick and buff stone dressings and has a tiled covering to the roof.

Plan

The three-bay, 18th-century chapel and two-storey, two-bay manse are arranged in a rectangular plan. The 1906 chapel is set at a right angle adjoining the north-west elevation of the 18th-century phase.

Exterior

The south-west elevation of the 18th-century chapel has three large late 19th-century windows under shallow, segmented brick heads, with corresponding windows on the chapel's north-east elevation. The windows are multi-paned with thin metal glazing bars, inset with a border of red and green coloured glass. A late 20th-century flat-roofed, single-storey addition is attached to the north-west bay, partially blocking the chapel window in this position.

Adjoining to the south-east is the manse. The doorway has a simple rectangular fanlight beneath a straight head. The windows all have shallow arched heads. To the right of the door are ten-over-ten sash windows without horns at the ground and first floors, which probably date to the late 18th or early 19th century. At the first floor, above the doorway, is a 20th-century casement window.

At the north-east elevation, on the Parsons Street frontage, the gable end of the late 18th-century, two-storey kitchen range has an Edwardian sash window at first floor and an oculus at the apex of the gable. Adjoining to the north-west is a two-storey, late 19th-century addition, parallel to the road, with a slate-covered gabled roof and end stack. The angular, single-storey vestibule to the 1906 chapel is adjacent to the north-west. The south-east elevation of the manse has a ten-over-ten sash window of the early 19th century and late 19th-century sash and casement windows.

The early 20th-century chapel has windows with squared, leaded lights and decorative stained glass at the heads. The principal elevation lies at the north-east frontage with Parsons Street and comprises a gable to the west and a staged turret with shouldered buttresses to the east. At the base of the turret is a pointed-arched entrance with a timber door decorated with metal straps. At the first floor is a pair of pointed-arch lancets with stone surrounds. The third stage of the turret houses the belfry and is polygonal with a louvred, single pointed-arch opening to each side and dentilled cornices to the eaves. The gable has a large window with three lights, stone transoms and quatrefoil tracery and a stone surround. A band of terracotta tiles cuts across the lower third of the window.

The north-west elevation has a side aisle, supported by buttresses, beneath a pent roof. There are single and three-light windows with stone surrounds. To the rear is a single-storey, flat-roofed vestry which obscures the lower part of the rear elevation. Above are two lancet windows and a central roundel with stained glass depicting the Lamb of God, all with stone surrounds. The south-east elevation abuts the old chapel. Some of the windows in the side aisle at the rear are 20th-century replacements.

Interior

The 18th-century chapel retains the late 19th-century platform for the pulpit and wall panelling. Above the platform is a roundel on the wall which depicts the Lamb of God, the Moravian symbol, which probably dates from the late 19th century. The early 19th-century gallery lies at the west end, supported on slender columns with mouldings to the capitals and bases. The timber balustrade of the gallery is faced with rectangular panels and has a carved handrail. Beneath the gallery is a two-panel door, probably of the late 18th or early 19th century, and an enclosed stair which leads to the gallery above. A late 18th-century, two-panel door leads from the gallery space into the tower of the 1906 chapel, although this is unlikely to be in situ. The pulpit and pews have been removed, and the floor covering is of the late 20th century.

The manse retains many fixtures and fittings of the 19th century, including the stairs, an early 19th-century hob grate, window shutters, cupboards, tiled floor coverings, doors, door furniture and joinery. One door has a 'L' hinge. The roof structure comprises principle rafter trusses with a ridge piece and probably dates to the late 19th century.

The early 20th-century fixtures and fittings of the 1906 chapel remain including the panelled porch, pews and organ. The multi-coloured stained glass has gentle foliate designs in Art Nouveau style. The mock hammer-beam roof rests on carved stone corbels.

Subsidiary Features

The earliest Sunday School remains to the south of the manse, now in use as a shed. It is a brick and weatherboard structure with a slate-covered roof, an eight-light casement window and additional partly-glazed, lean-to.

History

The Moravian church made considerable headway into Northamptonshire from 1744, served by itinerant preachers from Northampton and Bedford who visited Woodford Halse and nearby Eydon to conduct open air services.

In 1787, William Hunt, a farmer of Woodford Halse, began to preach himself, and a house was licensed for such purposes in the village. As the number of followers increased, Woodford became the principal meeting place in the area and was finally recognised as a congregation of the Moravian Church on 25th September 1796. In 1798 the building of the chapel and the adjoining manse, now known as number 12 Parsons Street, started, with the foundation stone being laid on 28th June. The chapel was formally opened on 18th April 1799.

Internal re-ordering of 1828 relocated the pulpit from the north end to the east and a new gallery was erected at the west end. More significant remodelling occurred in 1875, when the two entrances on the south elevation were replaced with large windows to light the chapel and a porch was built on the west end. A detached Sunday school was built near to the west end of the church, opening on Christmas Day 1875.

In 1906, the growing congregation necessitated the construction of a new chapel on the site of the Sunday school of 1875. Built at a cost of £1400, and designed in Gothic style by Mr A.E Allen from Banbury, the chapel is aligned approximately north-south and has the main front entrance on Parsons Street. The old chapel was used as a Sunday school at this time. In the late 20th century, single-storey additions were constructed to the south of the old chapel.

By the 1980s, the congregation was declining in numbers and in 1999, the manse was sold off. The manse had a connecting door into the chapel which may have been blocked by this time. Many of the Northampton Moravian churches closed in the early 21st century and in September 2009, the last service was held at Woodford Halse.