Surrey Chapel
Encyclopedia
The Surrey Chapel was an independent Methodist and Congregational church established in Blackfriars Road, Southwark
, London
on 8 June 1783 by the Rev. Rowland Hill
. His work was continued in 1833 by the Congregational pastor Rev. James Sherman
, and in 1854 by Rev. Newman Hall
. The chapel's design attracted great interest, being circular in plan with a domed roof. When built it was set in open fields, but within a few years it became a new industrial area with a vast population characterised by great poverty amidst pockets of wealth. Recently the site itself has been redeveloped as an office block (currently occupied by the London Development Agency
), and Southwark Underground Station has been built opposite.
The first stone of the chapel was laid in 1782, and the building opened in June 1783. Sponsorship was raised from Dissenting philanthropists such as the Methodist, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon
. A round building, Rowland Hill is said to have remarked, prevented the Devil from hiding in any corners. Its founding pastor, Rowland Hill
, having a strong interest in inoculation, established one of the most effective vaccination boards in London at Surrey Chapel. He was buried, at his own request below the pulpit, but was later re-buried below the Lincoln Memorial Tower
of the successor chapel, Christ Church, Kennington Road.
Surrey Chapel, though owned and managed by independent trustees primarily as a Nonconformist chapel, was operated as a venue for music, singing, and for the meetings of charities, associations and societies, several of which became closely associated with it. For a time, the composer and arranger Benjamin Jacob
was organist, attracting thousands; a practical response to Rowland Hill's well known concern about chapel music of the time: 'Why should the Devil have all the good tunes ?' .
One of the chapel's principal associations was with the non-denominational London Missionary Society
; for over sixty years the society held its principal annual sermon at Surrey Chapel and from here dispatched many of its best known missionaries including Robert Moffat
and John Williams
.
The chapel made itself available to many religious figures of different denominations; those invited to preach within its walls included both Establishment and Nonconformist figures. Clergymen of the Establishment included Henry Venn) and Rev. Thomas Scott
, whilst eminent Dissenting ministers included Dr Chalmers
. Under James Sherman's
pastorate a similarly nondenominational approach to burial reform was developed - Abney Park Cemetery
. Surrey Chapel - as a result of this 'open door' policy - became a popular London venue for many different religious leaders, societies, and meetings, including some of an avowedly political nature, as well as the site of the first Sunday School
in London. So much so, that new premises had to be found to accommodate the growth in services, ragged school
s, Sunday schools and the Southwark Mission for the Elevation of the Working Classes - an auxiliary to Surrey Chapel managed by the plain speaking George Murphy for the increasing numbers of industrial poor of the district.
These additional premises included a nearby temperance hall (leased for about twenty years from 1844 using a centenary commemoration fund raised by James Sherman
in honour of Rowland Hill
, thus renamed Hawkstone Hall after his birthplace); and Lambeth Baths (whose use was paid for by Samuel Morley (MP)
for additional Sunday services, meetings, lectures, classes, newspaper readings and musical entertainments). This growth led to the educational institutions of Surrey Chapel becoming probably more extensive than those connected with any free Church in the south of England. It became the nucleus of thirteen Sunday schools, four of them evening Ragged Schools, as well as day schools at Mansfield Street, Harrow Street, Kent Street, and Castle Yard, where more than five thousand children were taught by over four hundred teachers.
In 1859 the trustees and congregation, did not renew the lease and purchased land at Westminster Bridge Road and Kennington Road where (led by the pastor
, Christopher Newman Hall
) where they built a larger complex of buildings, which included a large chapel (Christ Church), lecture halls and school rooms (Hawkstone Hall) and the Lincoln Memorial Tower
- the latter reflecting Newman Hall's campaigning role in the American Civil War
and on the side of Abraham Lincoln
and the abolition
movement. The congregation migrated there in 1876, as did many of the societies associated with Surrey Chapel.
Rowland Hill's original chapel became used for various religious and social purposes, including by the Primitive Methodists
for a time, before partial demolition, rebuilding and refitting works to suit it to commercial uses in 1881. The Illustrated London News reported its demise in May 1881 in these terms: The demolition of the well-known circular meeting-house, or Dissenting Chapel, in Blackfriar's-road, Southwark, removes another familiar landmark of London's social and religious history. Despite the fatalistic tone of the contemporary news report, sufficient of the original building was retained that it remained recognisable in the streetscene until bombed during the Second World War. Though it had various commercial uses after 1881, its most notable was as the Ring - a boxing arena commenced in 1910. Today, on the site of the Surrey Chapel is a modern office block named Palestra(an allusion to the site's twentieth century sporting history
). The new building houses the London Development Agency
. Situated opposite, across Union Street, is Rowland Hill House: an interwar block of council flats named in honour of the chapel's founder.
Note that the Surrey Chapel that existed in south London should not be confused with Surrey Chapel in Norwich, which was founded in 1844 and continues to the present day.
Books
External links
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 8 June 1783 by the Rev. Rowland Hill
Rowland Hill (preacher)
Rowland Hill A.M. , was a popular English preacher, enthusiastic evangelical and an influential advocate of small-pox vaccination. He was founder and resident pastor of a wholly independent chapel, the Surrey Chapel, London; chairman of the Religious Tract Society; and a keen supporter of the...
. His work was continued in 1833 by the Congregational pastor Rev. James Sherman
James Sherman (minister)
The Rev. James Sherman , was a Congregationalist and abolitionist; a popular preacher at The Castle Street Chapel in Reading from 1821 to 1836 and the Surrey Chapel, Blackfriars, London from 1836-54. He was successor at the Surrey Chapel to Rowland Hill...
, and in 1854 by Rev. Newman Hall
Christopher Newman Hall
Rev. Dr. Christopher Newman Hall LLB , born at Maidstone and known in later life as a 'Dissenter's Bishop', was one of the most celebrated nineteenth century English Nonconformist divines...
. The chapel's design attracted great interest, being circular in plan with a domed roof. When built it was set in open fields, but within a few years it became a new industrial area with a vast population characterised by great poverty amidst pockets of wealth. Recently the site itself has been redeveloped as an office block (currently occupied by the London Development Agency
London Development Agency
The London Development Agency is the Regional Development Agency for Greater London, England. It is a functional body of the Greater London Authority...
), and Southwark Underground Station has been built opposite.
The first stone of the chapel was laid in 1782, and the building opened in June 1783. Sponsorship was raised from Dissenting philanthropists such as the Methodist, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon
Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon
Selina, Countess of Huntingdon was an English religious leader who played a prominent part in the religious revival of the 18th century and the Methodist movement in England and Wales, and has left a Christian denomination in England and Sierra Leone.-Early life:Selina Hastings was born as Lady...
. A round building, Rowland Hill is said to have remarked, prevented the Devil from hiding in any corners. Its founding pastor, Rowland Hill
Rowland Hill (preacher)
Rowland Hill A.M. , was a popular English preacher, enthusiastic evangelical and an influential advocate of small-pox vaccination. He was founder and resident pastor of a wholly independent chapel, the Surrey Chapel, London; chairman of the Religious Tract Society; and a keen supporter of the...
, having a strong interest in inoculation, established one of the most effective vaccination boards in London at Surrey Chapel. He was buried, at his own request below the pulpit, but was later re-buried below the Lincoln Memorial Tower
Lincoln Memorial Tower
The Lincoln Memorial Tower or Lincoln Tower is a Gothic revival tower in London, housing small meeting rooms, that was opened in 1876 in memory of Abraham Lincoln, and paid for partly by Americans. Once part of a complex of nineteenth century philanthropic institutions sited alongside a...
of the successor chapel, Christ Church, Kennington Road.
Surrey Chapel, though owned and managed by independent trustees primarily as a Nonconformist chapel, was operated as a venue for music, singing, and for the meetings of charities, associations and societies, several of which became closely associated with it. For a time, the composer and arranger Benjamin Jacob
Benjamin Jacob
Benjamin Jacob was an organist, conductor, and composer. He was a pupil of Willoughby, Shrubsole, and Arnold . He was an organist at various churches, finally at Surrey Chapel . With Wesley and Crotch, he gave organ recitals to immense audiences from 1808-14...
was organist, attracting thousands; a practical response to Rowland Hill's well known concern about chapel music of the time: 'Why should the Devil have all the good tunes ?' .
One of the chapel's principal associations was with the non-denominational London Missionary Society
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Nonconformists, largely Congregationalist in outlook, with missions in the islands of the South Pacific and Africa...
; for over sixty years the society held its principal annual sermon at Surrey Chapel and from here dispatched many of its best known missionaries including Robert Moffat
Robert Moffat
Robert Moffat was a Scottish Congregationalist missionary to Africa, and father in law of David Livingstone....
and John Williams
John Williams (missionary)
John Williams was an English missionary, active in the South Pacific. Born near London, England, he was trained as a foundry worker and mechanic...
.
The chapel made itself available to many religious figures of different denominations; those invited to preach within its walls included both Establishment and Nonconformist figures. Clergymen of the Establishment included Henry Venn) and Rev. Thomas Scott
Thomas Scott (commentator)
The Rev. Thomas Scott was an influential preacher and author who is principally known for his best-selling work A Commentary On The Whole Bible and The Force of Truth, and as one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society.- Life :...
, whilst eminent Dissenting ministers included Dr Chalmers
Thomas Chalmers
Thomas Chalmers , Scottish mathematician, political economist, divine and a leader of the Free Church of Scotland, was born at Anstruther in Fife.-Overview:...
. Under James Sherman's
James Sherman (minister)
The Rev. James Sherman , was a Congregationalist and abolitionist; a popular preacher at The Castle Street Chapel in Reading from 1821 to 1836 and the Surrey Chapel, Blackfriars, London from 1836-54. He was successor at the Surrey Chapel to Rowland Hill...
pastorate a similarly nondenominational approach to burial reform was developed - Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park in Stoke Newington, in the London Borough of Hackney, is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney and Dr. Isaac Watts, and the neighbouring Hartopp family. In 1840 it became a non-denominational garden cemetery, semi-public park arboretum, and...
. Surrey Chapel - as a result of this 'open door' policy - became a popular London venue for many different religious leaders, societies, and meetings, including some of an avowedly political nature, as well as the site of the first Sunday School
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
in London. So much so, that new premises had to be found to accommodate the growth in services, ragged school
Ragged school
Ragged Schools were charitable schools dedicated to the free education of destitute children in 19th century England. The schools were developed in working class districts of the rapidly expanding industrial towns...
s, Sunday schools and the Southwark Mission for the Elevation of the Working Classes - an auxiliary to Surrey Chapel managed by the plain speaking George Murphy for the increasing numbers of industrial poor of the district.
These additional premises included a nearby temperance hall (leased for about twenty years from 1844 using a centenary commemoration fund raised by James Sherman
James Sherman (minister)
The Rev. James Sherman , was a Congregationalist and abolitionist; a popular preacher at The Castle Street Chapel in Reading from 1821 to 1836 and the Surrey Chapel, Blackfriars, London from 1836-54. He was successor at the Surrey Chapel to Rowland Hill...
in honour of Rowland Hill
Rowland Hill (preacher)
Rowland Hill A.M. , was a popular English preacher, enthusiastic evangelical and an influential advocate of small-pox vaccination. He was founder and resident pastor of a wholly independent chapel, the Surrey Chapel, London; chairman of the Religious Tract Society; and a keen supporter of the...
, thus renamed Hawkstone Hall after his birthplace); and Lambeth Baths (whose use was paid for by Samuel Morley (MP)
Samuel Morley (MP)
Samuel Morley , was an English woollen manufacturer, philanthropist, dissenter , abolitionist, political radical, and statesman.-Introduction:...
for additional Sunday services, meetings, lectures, classes, newspaper readings and musical entertainments). This growth led to the educational institutions of Surrey Chapel becoming probably more extensive than those connected with any free Church in the south of England. It became the nucleus of thirteen Sunday schools, four of them evening Ragged Schools, as well as day schools at Mansfield Street, Harrow Street, Kent Street, and Castle Yard, where more than five thousand children were taught by over four hundred teachers.
In 1859 the trustees and congregation, did not renew the lease and purchased land at Westminster Bridge Road and Kennington Road where (led by the pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
, Christopher Newman Hall
Christopher Newman Hall
Rev. Dr. Christopher Newman Hall LLB , born at Maidstone and known in later life as a 'Dissenter's Bishop', was one of the most celebrated nineteenth century English Nonconformist divines...
) where they built a larger complex of buildings, which included a large chapel (Christ Church), lecture halls and school rooms (Hawkstone Hall) and the Lincoln Memorial Tower
Lincoln Memorial Tower
The Lincoln Memorial Tower or Lincoln Tower is a Gothic revival tower in London, housing small meeting rooms, that was opened in 1876 in memory of Abraham Lincoln, and paid for partly by Americans. Once part of a complex of nineteenth century philanthropic institutions sited alongside a...
- the latter reflecting Newman Hall's campaigning role in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and on the side of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
and the abolition
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
movement. The congregation migrated there in 1876, as did many of the societies associated with Surrey Chapel.
Rowland Hill's original chapel became used for various religious and social purposes, including by the Primitive Methodists
Primitive Methodism
Primitive Methodism was a major movement in English Methodism from about 1810 until the Methodist Union in 1932. The Primitive Methodist Church still exists in the United States.-Origins:...
for a time, before partial demolition, rebuilding and refitting works to suit it to commercial uses in 1881. The Illustrated London News reported its demise in May 1881 in these terms: The demolition of the well-known circular meeting-house, or Dissenting Chapel, in Blackfriar's-road, Southwark, removes another familiar landmark of London's social and religious history. Despite the fatalistic tone of the contemporary news report, sufficient of the original building was retained that it remained recognisable in the streetscene until bombed during the Second World War. Though it had various commercial uses after 1881, its most notable was as the Ring - a boxing arena commenced in 1910. Today, on the site of the Surrey Chapel is a modern office block named Palestra(an allusion to the site's twentieth century sporting history
Palestra
The Palestra, also known as the Cathedral of College Basketball, is a historic arena and the home gym of the University of Pennsylvania Quakers men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5 basketball. Located at 215 South 33rd St...
). The new building houses the London Development Agency
London Development Agency
The London Development Agency is the Regional Development Agency for Greater London, England. It is a functional body of the Greater London Authority...
. Situated opposite, across Union Street, is Rowland Hill House: an interwar block of council flats named in honour of the chapel's founder.
Note that the Surrey Chapel that existed in south London should not be confused with Surrey Chapel in Norwich, which was founded in 1844 and continues to the present day.
Books
- Rev. Newman Hall D.D. (1868). Sermons with A History of Surrey Chapel and Its Institutions. New York: Sheldon
External links