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Church History
The earliest known chapel on the site was build in 1790 and was known as the Zion or Sion chapel. The building of the chapel was funded by a Mr John Holmes “a yeoman from Ide” It was also know that he funded the building of chapels in Topsham and Tiverton. He was described as wishing to ensure that the worship of protestant dissenters would continue in Devon.
The site on Mytle Hill was acquired and was surrounded on three sides by roads, presenting a unique but difficult footprint to build in. Prior to the building of the chapel it had been known as Skinners Herb Garden. The chapel was small and may have seated about 100 or so people. It was typical in design of it’s day with a central pulpit at the front and music provided by a church band or harmonium rather than an organ. There was also a school room at the site and a small graveyard
In 1882 the church members decided that the building was too small and commissioned a firm of architects from Holborn, London to design a new building that would fit the unusual footprint of the site. A Mr Sulman, one of the architects, had just returned to work after a prolonged spell of sick leave to recover from Consumption. He had spent his recuperation time in Italy and had undertaken a study of Italian architecture. The result was that he designed a very beautiful and airy building that was very Italian in style. The foundation stone was laid on September 28th 1882 and the building formally opened on July 26th 1883. John Sulman went on to achieve fame as the architect and town planner for Sydney and New South Wales. Our church was his last building in Britain before he emigrated to Australia. The oak communion table was a personal gift from John to the new church
Because of the shortage of money the shortage of money, ( the building cost £30,000) the old school rooms were not demolished and the organ from the Zion chapel was moved into the new church. It wasn’t until 1903 that the new school rooms were added to the new church, and until 1923 that the Zion organ was removed and replaced with a wonderful “Wills” organ from Taunton costing £830
Since this time the church has undergone three major refurbishments. In the 1960’s the church was redecorated and the choir pews moved to the side of the organ. The pews under the gallery were removed and a glass screen added, the so called “Crush lobby” created as a better entrance to the church. The large hand made wooded cross at the back of the worship area was given by the shipwrights of Morgan Giles ship yard in the town. In the 1990’s the pews were taken from the church and replaced with chairs and a coffee bar was added to the lobby. In 2004 the church was totally redecorated and restored inside, creating a most colourful and delightful place to worship.
However there is still the problem of the outside of the building. Whilst the roof was retiled in the 1990’s the white stonework around the windows and doors has deteriorated quite badly. The original specification by the architect was for Portland stone or Bath stone. However, in places the builder used Beer stone from a nearby local quarry. Whether this was to save the church money or an act of fraud on his part is not known. What is known is that this has left the church with a major problem one which we are still debating today.
(With thanks to John Smith and Pauline Seaton)
Minister of the church
Rev. Henry Roper 1826 -1836
Rev. W Slater 1844 -1849
Rev. W. Martin 1851 - 1857
Rev. Dr. Clemance 1857 - 1860
Rev. W. Starmer 1872 -1876
Rev. C. Craddock 1878- 1879
Rev. Stanley James 1901 - 1907
Rev. J. Bohn 1911 - 1915
Rev. G. Marler 1917 - 1924
Rev. H Veale 1925 - 1937
Rev. H Martin 1938 - 1948
Rev. J.C. Smith 1949 - 1963
Rev. H. McDonald 1964 - 1969
Rev. C Jones 1970 - 1981
Rev. P. Killick 1983 - 1993
Rev. T. Bush 1987 - 1997 (Associate minister - non stipendiary)
Rev. A Willcocks 1994 - 1999
Rev. R. Richards 1999 - 2005
Rev. Dr. Tom Bush 2005 - (Minister in charge - non stipendiary)
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