Listed Building record MDO13027 - Congregational Church, Coombe Street, Lyme Regis

A chapel built between 1750 to 1755 by John Whitty, Minister and architect. The building has walls of stone rubble covered in pebbledash and rusticated quoins, and a hipped slate roof with coved and moulded cornice. The front elevation two storeyed with four round-headed windows below and three oval openings above, two blocked. The chapel closed in 1984 and was converted to a museum in 1986

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 144 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(2) CONGREGATIONAL CHAPEL, on the N.E. side of Coombe Street 160 yards N.W. of the parish church, has walls of stone rough-cast, ashlar dressings and slate-covered roofs. It was built by John Whitty, Minister, architect and foreman, between 1750 and 1755; of the contemporary fittings, the rostrum, parts of the pulpit and a section of the gallery were removed late in the 19th century at the time the original box-pews were replaced by the existing pews. A later school-room adjoins the building on the W. The street front of the chapel is symmetrically designed; it has a plinth, rusticated quoins, a plain band at gallery level and a coved eaves-cornice. The round-headed doorway in the middle has a timber door-case with Roman Doric side-pilasters with full entablature over. On either side of the doorway are two round-headed windows with plain architraves and key-blocks and above there are three oval windows, two of them blocked. There are similar round-headed windows below and oval above in the E. wall, and in the N. wall are two tall round-headed windows. The building is rectangular on plan and is covered with two parallel pitched and hipped roofs.
Inside, there is a gallery with panelled front round three sides supported on square fluted Roman Doric columns with continuous entablature; in the middle of the building, on pedestals, are two free-standing columns of the same order with full entablatures supporting the plate under the valley between the roofs. On a platform near the N. end is the contemporary hexagonal pulpit with panelled sides; the standard with carved scrolls and the canopied sounding-board have been relegated to the gallery. The brass-faced clock in the gallery-front is by Francis Pile, of Honiton.’

<2> National Record of the Historic Environment, 449822 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

former Congregational chapel built between 1750-55. A society, initially regarded as Prsbyterian, but latterly Congregational, originated with the ejection of the vicar, Ames Short, who became the first pastor. He was preaching in his own house in 1672, and later in a house in George's Court. His meeting was disturbed by constables in 1682, and in 1683 the seats and pulpit in the meeting-house were destroyed. Aria preaching in the late 18th century led to divisions and a decline in the congregation, which a reversion to earlier doctrines failed to repair. The church was reformed in 1821 and again in 1859. The chapel has walls of grey stone rubble with later rendering to the south and east end, and ashlar dressings. Hipped slate roof with central valley. The broad south front is of five bays with rusticated quoins, plinth, platband and coved eaves cornice. Central entrance with fluted pilasters and entablature. Closed 1984 and converted to a museum in 1986.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 11:37AM