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This
handsome little modern building sits not far from
the busy Ipswich to Manningtree road, down a
little lane. Built in about 1960 I should think,
it is very purposeful and pleasing, in the way
that small scale architecture of that period can
be when it is found in a chapel, a school, a
library, or a clinic. It reminded me of the work
of the Ipswich-based architectural partnership
Johns, Slater Haward at that time. The notices in
the window suggested that this is a busy place,
too. Methodism came to Brantham early,
the Wesleyan Society in the village forming in
1799. It can never have been a big society,
though. At the time of the 1851 census of
religious worship, the society did not have a
chapel of its own, meeting in a room set
apart for the purpose which is part of a dwelling
house, let by the owner at a nominal rent.
This is probably the Wesleyan house registered in
1828. On the evening of the census they had a
congregation of thirty people, fairly small in
comparison with Methodist chapels elsewhere; but
in the last few miles I had cycled past two large
closed Methodist churches, one from the 19th
century and one from the early 20th, both now
converted into houses, and so it was nice to find
that this one was still in use.
I
fear that Methodism is now passing from us as a
distinct denomination, and so I was pleased to
discover that it was still hanging on in
Brantham. And, unusually for a Suffolk village,
Brantham has an Anglican church, a Catholic
church and a Methodist church. Long may they all
prosper.
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