On Friday, 12th November we hope to welcome as many people as possible to our first talk in over eighteen months. It will be held at 7.30 pm in the main hall of the Community Centre, when Philippa Massey will describe “Stamford’s Industries” stretching back over 1,000 years. Philippa is an experienced speaker with an excellent knowledge of her subject.
As we are unable to provide a full schedule of talks, membership fees will not be payable this season, and the entrance charge is £2 per person. Acoustics in the hall have been improved since we last used it, but we will ask people for their thoughts about meeting arrangements for the New Year.
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Recently, Helen Payn (nee Scotney) passed on to Deepings Heritage a document relating to the first Primitive Methodist chapel in Deeping St James. It had been given to her parents in 1969 when they were living at 7 Bridge Street, on part of the former chapel site. Sometimes known as “Ranters” due to their energetic style of preaching, the Primitives built their chapel in 1878 at a cost of £140, on a piece of land forty-six feet wide and thirty-nine feet deep, bounded on the east by a footway leading from the street to the river Welland, and on the west by premises owned by Robert Franklin.
The Indenture names local men who financed the chapel, with their signatures and seals attached. They were Joseph Sanderson (boot maker), William Gilbert (coal merchant), Lewis Lawson (harness maker), Stephen Bettles (essential oils distiller), John Milbourn (butcher), Thomas Cook (shepherd), Jesse Lawson (boot maker), George Liverseidge (boot maker) and Joseph Plowright (painter) – all of Market Deeping – together with Deeping St James men, Edward Newbon (market gardener), James Smith (labourer) and Charles Cutler (labourer).
There was already a Primitive Methodist chapel in Halfleet, Market Deeping built two years earlier in 1876, but the Bridge Street congregation flourished and after twenty years appears to have outgrown the premises. A replacement chapel was erected on the corner of New Row, costing over £500 which suggests it was considerably larger. It opened in September 1896, with seating for 200 people and a schoolroom.
The chapel is shown on the left of the photograph, and Joseph Sanderson’s name is still carved into the stonework. When he died aged 99 in 1944, he was said to have been largely responsible for the erection of the building. He was a local preacher for more than fifty years, a Sunday School teacher and later Superintendent.
The New Row chapel closed a year after Mr Sanderson’s death, in 1945 and has since been used as a Masonic Hall. The Primitive Methodists’ Halfleet chapel held its final service around 1930 and was converted into the Coronation Hall.
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On Saturday, 13th November Helpston Local History Group are holding an open day in their village church, to commemorate men of Helpston who were killed in World War One. Among those they are remembering is Percy Toynton Topham who grew up in Deeping St James, but lived in Helpston for several years. Percy is listed on their war memorial, as well as in The Deepings Roll of Honour.
Our Market Place display this month will feature the history of Halfleet
Deepings Heritage 