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Monument Types

• MALT HOUSE (MEDIEVAL - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• BAPTIST CHAPEL (18TH CENTURY AD to 19TH CENTURY AD - 1723 AD to 1841 AD)
• BAPTIST CHAPEL (19TH CENTURY AD to 21ST CENTURY AD - 1841 AD to 2050 AD)
• SCHOOLROOM (19TH CENTURY AD to 21ST CENTURY AD - 1889 AD to 2050 AD)

Protected Status

• Historic Environment Flood Risk Assessment (NHPP)
• Listed Building

Full description

The house of Ann Thomas of Pershore was liscensed for Anabaptist worship in 1723. The Baptist Chapel in Broad Street however was founded in 1658. John Ash the lexicographer became minister in 1746. It was rebuilt in 1839. [1]

The Baptist Chapel, though free Gothic, manages to fit in its facade of 1888 well. The chapel itself is of 1843. [2]

The church was founded in 1658 and had long met in a converted malthouse on the present site. This was replaced in 1841 by the existing chapel now concealed from the road by a schoolroom added at the front in 1889. The walls are of brick and the roof is slated. Unusually the baptistry is sited at the opposite end of the pulpit. [3]

Recently a vault and arches were briefly uncovered, but the date is unknown. [4]

Graves, bones and a lead-lined coffin, retaining some silk and wood, were exposed in the garden of The Manse (Corner House) and reported to the Department in 1996. Also found were glazed medieval floor tiles. [5]

The chapel is designated Grade II along with the attached parish room and manse. The manse is recorded under a separate record - WSM31441. [6]

EXTERIOR: chapel of one storey, 1x4 bays, with gabled 2-storey Parish Room added at front, and to right of this the manse which has a 3-storey range, gable end to road, with a 2-storey, 2-window wing projecting from right side but set back and with a single-storey porch in the angle. Original chapel: of red brick in Flemish bond having Welsh-slate roof with stepped dentilled eaves. Tall 4-centred-arched recesses, the arches of rubbed brick with keystones, contain tall similarly-arched windows which have stone cills and 7/4-pane sashes with arched glazing bars in heads. Parish Room: of red brick and ashlar; plain tile roof with stepped, raised, verge. Stepped gable with moulded ashlar coping and finial. Upper window of 5 stepped lights with transoms and stepped hoodmould; panelled band below. Ground floor has 3-light window and entrance on right with double door and mullioned over-light. Manse: red brick in Flemish bond with white-brick "quoins", decorative bands, eaves and jambs; decorative stone cills and lintels; oversailing Welsh-slate roof with dentilled and moulded eaves, barge boards, and brick stacks with offsets. Windows are 2/2 sashes, paired on ground floor, with a 3-light canted bay-window to gable end of wing.

INTERIOR: of chapel: 3-sided gallery supported by cast-iron columns and brackets with blind Gothick-arched panelled fronts, 3 tiers of pews to sides and 1 at back; Gothick-panelled north-west gallery door; south-west staircase has narrow balusters, curved treads, and handrail with spiral curtail; pointed-arched double-door on ground floor at east end; main 4-centred-arched entrance at west end; further pointed-arched doorways; flat ceiling, divided into squares by deep ribs springing from bosses on side walls, has 4 moulded ceiling roses with metal grilles; ground-floor refurbishment of 1980s resulted in removal of most original fittings. Furnishings include candle lamp of 1843, early 19th century wall monuments, and under-floor baptistry. [7] [8]

Sources and further reading

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