CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
SATURDAY MAY 18th 1968
A
PUBLIC TEA AT 5.15 P.M.
IN THE SCHOOL ROOM
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A
SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING
At 7pm
SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER
THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN
Also Taking Part
THE REV. DR. NORMAN GOODALL, M.A, Ph.D
and
REV. P. N. JONES (CHAIRMAN.)
CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
SERVICES OF RE-DEDICATION
SUNDAY MAY 19th 1968
ORDER OF SERVICE
PRAYER
HYMN
LESSON - Rev. J. W. Blackburn.
PRAYER - Rev. P.N. Jones.
CHAIRMANS REMARKS
THE RT. REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN
HYMN
THE REV. DR. NORMAN GOODALL, M.A., Ph. D.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HYMN
THE BLESSING: The Rev. P. Mann, Vicar of Sleaford
CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
SERVICES OF RE-DEDICATION
SUNDAY MAY 19th 1968
MORNING WORSHIP
10.45 am.
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FAMILY SERVICE
Conducted by
Rev. Dr. N. Goodall M.A., Ph.D.
CELEBRATION OF THE SACRAMENT OF
HOLY COMMUNION
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UNITED SERVICE OF WORSHIP
WITH
METHODIST CHURCH
6.30 p.m.
REV. NORMAN GOODALL M.A., Ph.D.
CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
MONDAY MAY 20th 1968
At 7pm
ORGAN RECITAL
BY
Dr. G. SLATER
LINCOLN
SOLOISTS
MR E. BROWN
SLEAFORD
BARITONE
MR. N. McFARLANE
SOLO TRUMPET
LAID BY
JAMES SIDEBOTTOM, ESQ.
of Manchester
5th MAY, 1868
JAMES SIDEBOTTOM, Esq. What do we know of the gentleman from Manchester who laid the foundation stone of our present Church?
Recent enquiries have shown that James Sidebottom was a devoted Congregationalist, and this devotion was carried on by his daughter, Miss Sidebottom, and her Aunt. and the family were largely responsible for building the present Church at Burnage in 1868. This includes large and airy accommodation for the ever growing Sunday School, which was Miss Sidebottom's pride and joy. The school was originally started in a small room in a cottage close to the old Chapel.
For the above information, we are indebted to Mrs. Watts Farmer, who is the only surviving member of the Sidebottom family through her marriage to Miss E. Watts Sidebottom's nephew, James, and we should like to record the last paragraph from Mrs. Wells Farmer's letter: "I do however, send my most sincere good wishes to your Church and all its Members on this very memorable occasion."
appointed him as his chaplain and he regularly preached there until the Colonel's death, when he took a small farm at Roxholm In the parish of Leasingham. Again Imprisoned at the time of Monmouth's rebellion, he eventually settled in Sleaford and died there In 1696. Another was the Rev. Moses Mell, who when ejected from Kirton Lindsey. retired to Leaslngham and afterwards to Sleaford, where, for fifteen years, "he went about doing good" and occasionally preached. The Rev. J. Mowbray, B.D., expelled from Southwell (Notts.), was another who came to live here.
The most notable of these "refugees' was the Rev. W. Scofftn, the expelled Incumbent of Brothercoft, who settled in Sleaford, where he got together a congregation to whom he was Minister for forty years. He must have been a man of great personality, and much loved, but when he died in 1732, aged 77, there was no one to succeed him, and his congregation scattered and the chapel fell into decay, finally being demolished in 1763. In a brochure entitled "A Brief History of the Sleaford Congregational Church," issued before 1914, probably In 1908, we are told that "The scene of his labours was a chapel built in a garden at the rear of the house now occupied by Mrs. Doubleday, in Southgate." Older Sleafordians cell us that Mrs. Doubleday's house was on the sire now occupied by Wallworks' shop.
For a good many years after the death of Mr. Scoffin we do not hear of any religious services apart from chose at the parish Church. In 1748 the Rev. Benjamin Fawcett, the pastor of a congregation at Kidderminster, began agitating for a Congregational Church In Sleaford, expressing the view that "a gospel minister was the blessing Sleaford needed" In place of "mere formal, lifeless, worship." He was a member of a very old and well-known Sleaford family that was associated with Nonconformity both before and after his time. Nothing, however, resulted from these, and other, exhortations, until 1776 when a successful appeal was issued. We are told that a Mr. Bond was by far the largest contributor, and for this his name deserves to be remembered. A copy of this appeal survives, and it reads as follows:
This year, 1968, the Congregationalists of Sleaford are celebrating the centenary of their Church - that is the very pleasant Gothic building In Southgate. Congregationalism in Sleaford, however, goes back much further: a previous church had been erected nearly a hundred years before, and even in the 1690's there were groups of devout people in the town who were Congregationalists in spirit, if not in name.
The seventeenth century was a period in which successive administrations tried to enforce uniformity in Church worship and government, always, of course, In accordance with their own views, and clergymen and lay people in considerable numbers suffered persecution. The worst example was the Act of Uniformity. 1662, which resulted In about 2,000 Church of England ministers being forced out of their livings. Several of these from other parts of Lincolnshire, and from neighbouring counties, came to live in Sleaford. Among others, the Rev. Theophilus Brittain, Rector of Brockelsby, after being expelled, was imprisoned in Lincoln. Later, Colonel King, of
Ashby-de-la-Launde.
Sleaford In Lincolnshire.
4th March, 1776.
The humble Petition of the Christian Friends and Brethren of Sleaford, in the County of Lincoln, whose Names are hereto subscribed, humbly prays the Aid and Assistance of the Churches of God in Christ Jesus, to whom our Petition shall come.
Your Petitioners humbly beg to shew, that for Ages past the Gospel in this Place has been very languid, but by God's Grace embraced by a few, and those poor In this World tho' rich in heavenly things, but it now has pleased the King of Kings at this time to bring many by this Grace to the knowledge of Gospel Truths as it Is in Jesus; hoping the Lord will increase dally here his Flock, for many shew a ready desire to be made Partakers of his Grace, but not having the Gospel exhibited in the established Church, which we lament, am purposed by God's Grace, & the Assistance of Christian Friends, to erect a Place for public Worship for the Benefit of us and our Brethren assembling together in Sleaford, and have purchased a Plot of Ground for that purpose, but not being able to execute our Plan. being People of low Circumstances, humbly pray a Contribution of God's loving People for the same, which will cause a lasting Obligation on the Hearts of your loving Brethren, as we are not able nor would presume of ourselves without your Benefactions, to accomplish so laudable a Work, hoping the Servants of the Lord will remember what is given to the Poor Is lent to the Lord, and what thou layest out I will repay saith Jehovah Jesus. We are under the Necessity of building a Place for the Worship of God, or we cannot comply with that Precept, "Neglect not to assemble yourselves together" for we have oft met together for social Prayer &c. have but as oft been separated, either by Power or by Persecution. Your Petitioners appeal to the Lord, that our only motive Is the good of Souls, the Glory of God and the desire of the Visits of his Love In the Communion of Saints. Many other things might be added, but we commit the whole to our God's Faithfulness, and the Consideration to all to whom these Presents shall come, that love our Lord Christ in Sincerity; Ascribing ourselves your most dutiful and grateful humble Servants.
N.B. This I am clear Is a just and true petition.
Rev. John Harris.
Wm. FAWCETT
JOHN BOND
JOHN HARMSTON
JOSEPH HAGUE
WILLIAM ROWLAND
RICHARD HOLLAND
JOHN TAYLOR
MICHAEL STENNETT
WILLIAM HARMSTON
WILLIAM ROSINTON
CLEMENT ROSINTON
EDWARD CLIFTON
SAMUEL WARD
JOHN LACEY
The new chapel was licensed under the Toleration Act of 1776. It was built at the end of Hen Lane (now called Jermyn Street), which was, and is, a cul-de-sac. To get to their Meeting House the worshippers had to cross a plank over a very small stream. In those days Dissenters were inclined to site their places of worship Inconspicuously in out-of-the-way places because they were liable to meet with derision and hostility from some sections of the community. Cornelius Greenwood, In his "Short Account of the late Mr. Thomas Fawcett" (published in 1830), states that "A lady informed me that she has heard some of her ancestors say the almost lawless people of Sleaford once dressed up an ass and thrust it into the chapel while the people were at worship." If this refers to the Hen Lane meeting house It is not surprising that, according to tradition, it was someone's duty to go out, as soon as the congregation had assembled, and remove the plank. How long these conditions lasted and the worshippers continued to walk the plank is not known.
All the ministers at the chapel In the early days were members of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connection. The Countess was a most devout lady who spent many years of her life. and much money, In promoting the religious life, especially in connection with Nonconformity. She paid for the erection of chapels In several parts of the country. In 1768 she converted an old mansion at Trevecca, near Talgarth, in South Wales, to be a theological college for the training of ministers for her own chapels, and afterwards for other free churches. The benefit to the whole Free Church Movement of a force of trained and dedicated ministers can hardly be exaggerated. The chapel in Hen Lane certainly fulfilled a long-felt desire In the town and it went from strength to strength. In 1819-1620 the building was unroofed, the walls raised and galleries erected, making It a comfortable place of worship capable of seating over two hundred persons. A school room was added In 1837.
Congregationalism In Sleaford owes much to the Rev. E. S. Brooks, minister from 1838 to 1861. He was a man of profound influence and we are told that his 'cultured preaching' filled the church throughout his long ministry with a strong and devoted congregation.
We now come to the time of the erection of the present church, and the Conveyance Deeds are a very interesting document to study. The piece of land on which the Church Is built was bought from John Taylor Marston, of the Old Place, Sleaford, common brewer, for £850, and the names of some of the original Trustees will still be remembered by old Sleafordians.
WILLIAM HUNT, New Sleaford, Mercer.
JOHN BEDFORD, New Sleaford-Surgeon.
JOSEPH CAMOMILE, New Sleaford-Basket Maker.
THOMAS SIMPSON, New Sleaford-Merchant.
HENRY GRAHAM. New Sleaford-Accountant.
THOMAS FINDER, New Sleaford-Ironmonger.
JOHN OLDRID, Boston-Draper.
JOSEPH RUSTON, Lincoln-Engineer.
WILLIAM RAINFORTH. Lincoln-Sail maker.
JOHN THOMSON, Lincoln-Draper.
CHARLES WILLIAMS, Carlton-le-Moreland-Farmer.
REV. GEORGE RAYMOND BETTIS. Dissenting Minister
and Pastor of the Independent Church in New Sleaford.
Rev, A. Eason In his booklet, "A Brief History of the Sleaford Congregational Church," to which reference has already been made, writes as follows:
"For some years the members had felt that if they were to maintain their religious position. It would be necessary to have an edifice more in character with the spirit of the times and the growing taste of the people. This opportunity offered during the ministry of the Rev. G. R. Bettis who succeeded Mr. Brooks in 1863.
"The present site was purchased and the Church erected by an enthusiastic and sturdy people, stimulated largely by the generosity of the late Mr. T. Simpson, who Joined the Church In Hen Lane In 1825. The foundation stone was laid May 2nd, 1867. The work was carried out by Messrs. S. & W. Pattlnson, of Ruskington; the architects being Messrs. Haberston & Pite, of London. The Dedication service was conducted by the Rev. Dr. Allon, on Thursday, 16th January, 1868, and the opening services were continued on the following Sundays by the Revs. Dr. Massle, J. C. Galloway, and Lord Teynham. The school premises, which were a later addition, together with the church, form a beautiful block of stone building* admirably suited to the particular work and worship of the denomination to which they belong. The Rev. W. Tidd Matson, the author of the hymn, "0 blessed life the heart at rest", and others In the Congregational Hymnal, succeeded Mr. Bettis to the ministry of the Church, and he again was succeeded by the Rev. J. Hewitt., The present minister (I.e. Mr. Eason) who has the honour of having served the Church for a longer period than any except Mr. Brooks, succeeded the Rev. P. Carrotte in 1889. The church Is a hive of Industry and centre of various agencies of Christian work. The first Sunday School In Sleaford was established by its members, and it has been the pioneer in Band of Hope and Christian Endeavour work, as well as the Boys' Brigade, P.S.A. and Dividing Club. All the present work Is made possible only by a band of faithful men and women, who through all vicissitudes of Its life are found loyal to the Church and Pastor of their choice. They shall not lose their reward."
Thus wrote Rev. Eason some sixty years ago - and the Church still has that body of faithful supporters whose loyalty and self-sacrificing efforts make its work possible.
It will be seen that Congregationalism In Sleaford has a long history; two hundred years of continuous service, and much good work farther back still. Generation after generation of men and women have found the fellowship of corporate worship In the Church, and Its walls have been the setting of the simple ceremonies that have marked the succeeding stages of their lives.
We are very grateful to W. H. Hosford, Fsq.. who has compiled this history of the Sleaford Congregational Church.
© 2007 Sleaford United Reformed Church.