Introduction
With this volume of The Chapels Society Journal we return to the more focussed style of the first volume. All the papers presented here have already been given at one of the Society’s meetings, the majority make up the proceedings of a conference, held jointly with the Ecclesiological Society, in September 2017 with the title From citadels to warehouses: some places of worship in Britain today. That conference looked at the buildings of a number of Christian churches originating in the nineteenth century, as well as at the attitudes to buildings of some of the more recent arrivals to Nonconformity. The editor regrets that he has been unable to obtain a paper from one of the most interesting of those presentations – that on the buildings of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints – whose distinctive buildings of the mid- to late-twentieth century make such an individual contribution to British suburbia. Emily Utt, in her presentation, had very ably outlined a pattern, recognisable in other denominations – from borrowed buildings through individual new buildings to the products of a central architectural policy and then back to greater variety of design – which is well worth reflecting on when reading some of the other papers in this volume.
However the first paper is of a different sort. Kate Tiller, in her Christopher Stell Memorial Lecture, presents a persuasive account of the historiography of Nonconformity as it applies to chapel buildings and their members. She takes as her example a chapel – Cote Baptist Chapel – beloved of both Christopher Stell, the rigorous architectural historian, and John Betjeman, whose more romantic attachment to chapels was founded on an appreciation of the importance of place and community. Chapel historians do not have a good reputation – perhaps because their love for the building and its people often overcomes academic rigour. Kate Tiller sets out a balanced approach which should become compulsory reading for future chapel historians.
A major theme of the papers from the conference is naturally how liturgical practice in different denominations affects the architecture of their buildings but a second theme emerges, particularly in Neil Dickson’s account of Brethren buildings. This is the extent to which the theology of a group is reflected in its aesthetics. Brethren, in their concentration on the Bible, had no time for architecture which attempted to express the numinous and indeed seemed almost to glory in the meanness of their gospel halls. In contrast, the Catholic Apostolic Church, desiring to be the model for the rescue of all Churches from their apostasy in preparation for the Second Coming, always had a vision of achieving ‘truth and perfection of architecture’, as Tim Grass amply illustrates. Alas it had no plans for a ‘meantime’ existence and it left only a legacy of buildings, some of them of remarkable quality, which have had largely to be adapted for the use of other denominations.
Sally Lessiter’s account of Christian Science architecture concentrates largely on the London churches built in the early twentieth century also to high aesthetic standards and which because of their focus on excellent acoustics, have subsequently adapted well to other uses as, for instance, concert halls and conference centres.
The final two papers share a concern with the reverse process, that is the conversion of secular spaces for religious use. The Salvation Army early gained a reputation for the conversion of theatres, circuses and roller-skating rinks to mission halls and, as Steven Spencer illustrates, these spaces, together the military terms used for buildings, have continued to influence Salvationist architecture to this day. Finally Anthony-Paul Cooper and David Goodhew examine the buildings used by the new churches which have sprung up, in York, in the last forty years – at least as various as those used by the Booths in earlier days. The secularisation, seen as a major influence in British life since the last War, finds a striking contrast in the ‘desecularisation’ of buildings used by the newer churches.
There is an irony that this volume should be published by The Chapels Society, in that very few of the buildings here discussed would describe themselves as ‘chapels’. However The Chapels Society has nursed this ambiguity since its first inception, thirty years ago. We continue to foster public interest in the architectural and historical importance of all places of worship that might loosely described as Nonconformist – both the buildings of Christian bodies outside the Established Church and those of other faith groups – through visits, research and publications, such as this Journal.
Chapels Society members received a copy of this volume as part of their membership in 2018. Members joining in subsequent years and non-members can obtain a copy at a cost of £15 including postage and packing using the All Chapels Great and Small Order Form.