Our Story
The Chapel originates in the great evangelical revival of the late 18th century. Around 1778, John Whitburn, a turf cutter who lived in a cottage close to the site of the present chapel, was converted under the preaching of the nearby Tadley minister, Mr Duncan. `Feeling a deep concern for the salvation of his perishing neighbours’, says an entry in the original church book, `he attempted to awaken them by argument, reading, and prayer.’ Whitburn held services in his own cottage on Sunday evenings and sometimes under the apple trees in his orchard and in other places around.
In 1797, two of his friends, who had joined the Baptist Church in Hosier’s Lane, Reading, persuaded their new pastor, the Rev. John Holloway, to come over and preach at Whitburn’s house. So large a number came that the cottage was too small to contain them, so that the service had to be held in an adjoining meadow. Mr Holloway, with the assistance of ministers from Reading, Basingstoke and elsewhere, continued the open air services throughout the summer. On the approach of winter, the congregation again met in the cottage, but the rooms were found inconveniently low and small.
At this time, Mr John Mulford, of Tadley, a wealthy and elderly bachelor, gave the land and with contributions from Mortimer people, Mulford erected the Chapel in 1798. In 1803, Mr Andrew Pinnell, started his ministry at the Chapel. One of his earliest duties was the interment of John Whitburn who died in December 1803. In his will, John left the Chapel and surrounding five acres of land to be administered by Trustees `so as the Gospel may be faithfully preached’ there.
In 1805, it became necessary to enlarge the Chapel to nearly twice its original dimensions and a manse cottage was added at about the same time. Chapel House, as it became known, provided much needed accommodation for the Pinnell family, with no fewer than nine children recorded in the baptismal register. The Chapel became a part of The Countess of Huntingdon Connexion in 1826.
Although it had its ups and down, the Chapel thrived through most of the 19th century. In 1905 the Chapel was first registered for the solemnisation of marriages. However, after the First World War attendance and services at the chapel began to decline. From the Second World War until 1960 church records were not kept. In 1961 the Chapel had a new heating system and an electricity supply but by 1963 the building was in desperate need of repair and was closed for public worship in 1964 following an architect’s report that described it as no longer safe. Services were moved to the School Room.
In 1972 the two cottages adjoining the Chapel were repaired and were lived in throughout the 1970s. After a serious damp problem was reported in 1983, neither the manse cottage nor the second cottage, were considered fit to be lived in, and the premises continued to deteriorate throughout the rest of the decade.
The faithful few maintained their worship and witness throughout the 1980s. A feature of the summer months became a well-attended open-air service. Membership, however, did not increase and in 1990 is given as 12 associate members – this taking account of the fact that some supported the chapel only as their second church, travelling from Reading or elsewhere to attend the afternoon service in the Schoolroom.
An important development had been the listing of the Chapel by the Department of the Environment in 1980 at the higher Grade II*; it was held to be `an outstanding example of a non-denominational building’. A planning application was made in 1984 to convert the Chapel to residential use, prior to sale. This was refused because it would have caused excessive alteration to the structure and internal arrangement of the building, and the removal of fixtures and fittings which contributed to its architectural and historical interest.
In 1988, the Trustees attempted to sell the Chapel, cottages and part of the landholding by tender. Basingstoke and Deane’s Planning Committee recommended the Trustees withdraw the sale by tender and consider alternative suggestions to restore the Chapel, with which it was prepared to help. The required emergency work was carried out.
In the early 1990s another Connexional church, at nearby Goring-on-Thames, became more directly involved. The church at Goring had in the past given what support it could, occasionally supplying the pulpit and assisting with maintaining the graveyard areas. Work parties had come over, in the summer months, for a number of years. But now there was a new initiative; two young professional people, Dr. Max Rowe and his wife, Rosalind, felt a call to be involved in work of restoration of the Chapel in both a spiritual and practical sense. In discussion with others they carried out a survey to see how local spiritual needs were being met and whether there was still a need for a chapel with a strong evangelical witness at Mortimer West.
The resulting Development Study was completed by March 1991 and on the basis of a survey of population, churches, youth activities, and other needs, within a radius of three miles or so, it was found there was considerable potential for the work of the Chapel. Two teams moved the work forward: the Coordinating Team, comprised of Goring and Mortimer members, with Brian Baldwin as Trustee; and the Building Team, comprised of Goring members, and Brian Baldwin, working with local planners and building conservation experts.
By the end of 1991 a partnership spirit was evident between the planners and building team, joined by Dr. Brenda Ward, a Goring member and historian at Reading University. This mutual cooperation led to joint work parties organised in November 1991 and January 1992 to clear the worst of the undergrowth surrounding the Chapel and some of the interior rubble from collapsing plaster work and rotten wood flooring. By the end of 1992 a cost profile had been drawn up, plans produced, and tenders invited and returned, for the chapel work. By August 1993 the Chapel restoration was virtually finished, in time for the rededication service held on 18 September 1993. At the end of 1994 Allan Meakin and his family moved into the Manse; the Chapel now had a settled pastor for the first time in over 100 years. In 1998 the Chapel celebrated 200 years since it was founded.