The Baptist Church in Glade Road is not the first baptist place of worship to have existed in Marlow. The move to Glade Road was not without controversy as you will see below!
It is hard to pinpoint the exact first places of Baptist worship within the town. We know they were active here for at least 20 years before they erected their first little chapel in Dean Street. They held their "anniversary" meetings outside, in the "Crown Close" in the 1830's - this is referring to the field later usually called Crown Meadow, now Riley Recreation Ground. Open air preaching wasn't unusual at the time but no doubt they would try and hire some indoor accomodation if funds and numbers allowed. We do know that the chapel erected in Dean Street in 1855, was consistently called their first "proper" place of worship in Marlow.
Dean Street was a populous and working class area of town. The Baptist chapel, or Ebenezer Chapel as it was often known, was small with 150 sittings. Work began on it in 1855 and it was opened in the late summer of the following year. It was later said the congregation quickly realised the limitations of the site they had chosen, as the chapel was set back from the road in a location known as Providence Place, where an infant school could also be found. It was, so the complaints went, quite out of sight. But no doubt at the time the small congregation chose the best site they could afford. Above the door was the stern words to "Stand by the right with all thy might".
The man who was regarded as largely responsible for bringing the Baptist mission to Marlow was builder, insurance agent and tax assessor/collector William Crake* of Chapel Street. It was he who actually built the Dean Street chapel.
They then began their work amongst the poorer citizens of Marlow. In 1859 they began offering lectures for "the working classes" on various subjects. Naturally most of these had a religious or moral theme but this was not exclusively so. Another focus of their work was to encourage abstinence from alcohol. Dean Street was an area full of public houses and beer shops so this was not the easiest of tasks. Many of the Baptists such as William Crake mentioned above were life long abstainers. The first anniversary of the Sunday School or Sabbath School as it was usually known, saw special services in the chapel. It was so crowded that a platform was erected "on top of the pews" to accommodate more worshippers. At this event, a brick and stone model of the Ebenezer Chapel was exhibited. It had been created by one of the talented teachers there. The success of the school had "exceeded the most sanguine expectations".
In 1865 the chapel was closed for several months so that a new Sunday school room could be built and other repairs and improvements could be completed. It was repainted too. Clearly the congregation invested in the site because they expected to stay there for the foreseeable future.
In the 1880's the church began to consider a new home. They felt they needed more space and there was no further room to expand where they were. Glade Road was an area undergoing a lot of development at the time and there was a number of empty plots to choose from. They secured the current site for £195 in 1884 and Marlow builder Arthur Corby won the tender to erect the new chapel at a cost of £950. The building committee consisted of Rev John Bray who came to Marlow from Fyfield in 1883, D Clarke of High Wycombe, and Marlow men John Birdseye, William Crake, W Piercy, and J Chilton. The architect was Maidenhead's C A Wardy.
Work progressed quickly. The foundation stone was laid in March 1884, and the building was officially opened in July of the same year. But the eager worshippers began to use the site when the building was not even complete. The first services were held there in April 1884. This keenness to leave Dean Street was interpreted in various ways. Some saw it as eagerness and pride in what their fundraising had achieved in a short time. Others thought the haste indecent, and that the chapel was abandoning it's poor neighbourhood for a more salubrious one. The reporter in the Maidenhead Advertiser said he was himself not at all surprised in their hurry to "be quit of the unpleasant odours and unseemly sights of Dean Street" in favour of a well to do location that would allow worshippers to approach "their tabernacle through a more genial and healthy atmosphere." Unfortunately for the residents of Dean Street, moving to less crowded and healthier parts of town was a distant dream. Was this criticism fair? The Baptists did not give up working with the poor in Marlow. The move allowed them to have more room for the Sunday school amongst other things. But to some, the move was still an admission of failure. The same local reporter mentioned above said that the Baptists had failed to attract many worshippers from the Dean Street area despite being based in its midst so they might as well make room for another group like the Salvation Army more "fitted" for the work. The Salvation Army did indeed become active in Marlow shortly afterwards, and they did host many open air meetings in Dean Street and nearby.
Despite the controversy, most believed the new building was at least an attractive addition to the town. A special service to open it was conducted by the Rev W Lewis of St Albans. It looks different now to then as the fascia was rebuilt in 1932. The new Sunday school did well, with the youngsters enjoying of course an annual outing. Burnham Beeches was a perennially favourite destination. In 1889 the children had a merry time playing sports and games at Bencombe Farm in Marlow Bottom. The winners of several races came away with "useful" prizes. This was followed by a grand tea at the farm.
The old chapel in Providence Place, Dean Street is long demolished but it was used by the Parish Church as a Mission Room after the Baptists left. They previously had used a converted cottage. You can read more about the mission rooms here
The Glade Road chapel is still in use by the Baptist congregation.
Related Posts:
*Biography of William Crake here
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Written and researched by Kathryn Day.
Sources:
The Church: Volume 1-8, 1883.
Reading Mercury 6 July 1839, 23 August 1856, 9 February 1859, 3 November 1883,12 July 1884, all at British Library Archive and accessed via the BNA.
1883 and 1939 Kelly's Directory (Kelly's Directories Ltd)
©Marlow Ancestors