Old Chapel History

A Potted History of the Old Chapel - Tarrant Street, Arundel - 1784-1838

The origin of the 'Old' Independent Chapel can be traced to the arrival in Arundel of the Rev Craddock Glascott in 1768. The previous year Glascott had joined the Countess of Huntingdon's band of travelling preachers.  He now addressed a crowd of people in the open air at the Shambles in the High Street and then advised them  that he would speak again the following Sunday. His preaching must have angered some of those present, because when he returned he was greeted by a mob which ' tore the robe off his back' and pelted him with missiles. Retreating up the Causeway to Crossbush he was finally able to address the people in peace.

It was this small group of people who became the nucleus of a new Independent church in Arundel. One of them, Harry Weller, owned a Malt House in Tarrant Str which was registered as a place of worship. This gave them protection under the law from further mob harassment. Glascott having moved on, the Countess sent further preachers to Arundel to look after the believers. At times there were 2 or 3 hundred people present at these services.

Eventually one of the Countess' preachers, the Rev John Hey was invited to take up the pastoral office in 1780 which he held until 1785 before leaving for Ringwood. Under his tenure in Arundel numbers continued to grow until the Chapel was opened in 1784. Hey was one of the founders of the London Missionary Society in 1795 and ended his days in the US where he planned and built another chapel.

The Chapel(now Larkins Supermarket) was built on a plot of land purchased by Thomas Finch, a wealthy merchant and member of the church. He also financed the building to a large degree. Of the total outlay of £ 409 Finch contributed £ 320.

When we look at Larkin's today we should remember that in 1784 this was a building set back from the pavement. It could probably hold about 100 people and underneath was an appartment intended for the minister as living quarters.

Following Hey's departure in 1785 the church was again looked after by the Countess until 1796 when Rev Wilkins arrived. His stay was brief and he was followed by Rev Pryer in 1797 who continued until 1805. The church was then without a minister until 1809. This whole period seems to have been a time of stagnation and then decline in numbers as the church members from Hey's time gradually died off. Politically it is also the period of prolonged wars against France. With no minister and dependent on visiting preachers Mr Finch was minded to shut the Chapel, but they learned of an evangelical minister at the Parish church of South Stoke, Rev Wilton, and attended services there while also having prayer meetings in the Chapel on Sundays.

Things began to advance again in 1809 when the newly formed Sussex Mission Society sent Lambert Gore to Arundel to revive the work & to minister as far away as Pagham, Pulborough and Amberley. An 80 year old lady in 1860 remembered Gore's custom of walking 11 miles from Arundel to preach in her house, stay the night & walk the next day 4 miles to another house. He obviously did not own a horse.  In 1810 a Sunday School was founded with 100 children. Its aim was single-minded : to impart religious instruction. Sunday school work was a fairly recent invention and books were scarce, but by 1820 when the West Sussex Sunday School Union was instituted in Petworth the Union's 'Depository of Books' was located in Arundel.  Gore left Arundel in 1814 for Petersfield

Converted at 16 William Bannister(1783-1834) had trained at Dr Bogue's seminary at Gosport, ministered 6 years at Wellington in Somerset, then briefly at Ryde IOW before accepting the pastorate at Arundel in 1814 where he remained until his death. Oddly, he was not ordained as the minister until 1819, the church then enjoying a dinner at the Norfolk Arms. During his tenure the church continued to grow necessitating 2 bouts of extending the chapel - first in 1817 when a gallery was erected and then in 1822 when the chapel was extended forward to the pavement. This brought the capacity up to about 250. Formed in 1815 a church of 28 members rose to 62 by 1830.

Other important ministries were begun. In 1816 a 'Singing Society' was introduced to help in the worship. When the gallery was erected this choir could occupy an exclusive pew for their use. In 1818 a Dorcas Society was formed by the lady members who engaged themselves to gather clothes to give to the poor & needy. A Tract Society was founded in 1829 to promote missionary work in the Town.

Our final phase of the Chapel's history is covered by the ministry of the Rev Orlando Thomas Dobbin who took up the pastorate in Jan 1835. Having served as a missionary in India Dobbin was a gifted preacher & soon the Chapel was filled to capacity. The church had already promised Dobbin a 'new build' before he came & now a building committee took action to raise funds & acquire a plot of land a stone's throw away. Trinity Chapel was duly opened in 1838 - marking the end of our history.

The other highlight of Dobbin's time is probably his first literary work which seems to have been unpublished. A Christian boy of 8 in the church called William Lundy so impressed Dobbin by his holy conduct & peaceful death during much suffering that he wrote a memoir about him. Lundy had even given him the text for his own funeral sermon.

What happened to the Old Chapel then ? Well, the contents such as the pulpit, pews and chandelier were acquired by the minister at Pulborough for a new chapel there while the building was sold to a member of the church called Mr William Suter. The current owner, Mr John Mathews is a descendent of Mr Suter.