THIS IS FINDON — www.findonvillage.com  created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

THE HISTORY OF NEPCOTE’S TINY CHAPEL

 Copyright Valerie Martin 2003.

Did you know that there was a tiny chapel in Nepcote?  The hamlet of Nepcote (maybe because of its distance from St. John the Baptist Church), was a centre of protestant nonconformity after the mid 1800s. 

Religion was held in greater esteem in the Findon inhabitants' lives than today.  Two Mormon families are said to have resided in Nepcote in 1851.  They met for fellowship in their cottage and the property was registered for worship by Plymouth Brethren in 1862. 

At the same date a barn (whereabouts unknown) was used by Independents of the area.   This building always brings a picture to my mind as it is was said to have been blown down in a gale — and I can't help wondering if the congregation were inside at the time.

By 1875 preachers of various denominations, including Baptists, were preaching somewhere in Nepcote;  there was never a resident minister though, either then or later. 

The present day tiny Nepcote Chapel of undressed flint with brick dressings and plain Gothic windows was built privately by a Mr. T. G. Graham in 1881.   This was a mission chapel for Particular Baptists and accommodated a congregation of sixty.    In 1887 it was said to be well attended, the congregation including a farmer and a veterinary surgeon.

The chapel was bought from Mr. Graham’s estate after his death in 1906 by a group of shareholders.   It was eventually handed to the Christchurch Road Baptist Church in 1924 after the shareholders had paid off the they loan needed to purchase it.

The chapel was closed in 1939 when the congregation intended to move to a new building in 1940 in Findon Valley with 21 members.

The Nepcote Chapel was re-opened in 1948 for a small Evangelical sect.

Continue if you would like to read about Thomas Hardy in Nepcote.

This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.