By Neville Enderson (2015)
Coleford Gospel Hall, known in later years as Coleford Chapel, closed in June 2015. It had been founded around 1841 by Robert Gribble, a travelling evangelist from Barnstaple who was a draper by trade. In a little book published in 1858, Recollections of a Travelling Evangelist, he described his experiences travelling from North Devon, spreading the Gospel through various villages. One of these was Coleford, which he reached around 1840.
The beginnings of the Gospel Hall
Together with William Arscott, a shoemaker who lived at what is now Homeleigh, Coleford, Gribble began holding meetings in a small cottage, long since demolished. It stood somewhere near the north-west corner of Chris Cann’s yard at Gribbles, Coleford. A small pumphouse beside the road is all that remains of the property.
Gribble described how the cottage’s occupant, an elderly man named William Perryman, who was keenly interested in his work, offered a room in which meetings could take place. He apparently did so with the blessing of his daughter, Mary Daw, who lived just across the road with her husband at what is now Cobblestones.
Over the next few years, the little group attracted such interest that larger premises became necessary. At the time, William Arscott was parish clerk, a position closely connected with the established Church. Because of his newfound religious interest, he was forced to resign as clerk, apparently amid some bitterness.
The Coleford Dame School
Meanwhile, William Perryman had died, and Miss Ann Madge of Copplestone House asked the landlord, Squire Coryton, whether she could lease the cottage after it became vacant and turn it into a small school for village children. Permission was granted, and this marked the beginning of what became known as the Coleford Dame School.
The schoolmistress was Mary Anne Sutton, one of the early converts to Robert Gribble’s preaching. The exact date the school opened is unknown, but the 1851 census records Mary Ann as a schoolmistress in Coleford.
A ten-year lease for the Coleford schoolroom, dated April 1863, from Augustus Coryton to Ann Madge, survives in the Cornwall Record Office [now Kresen Kernow]. An earlier lease may have existed but has not survived. The school would have closed by 1873, when a new school was being built at Colebrooke following the Elementary Education Act 1870.
From stable to chapel
Gribble went on to describe the decision to use a stable in the village for meetings. Considerable work and expense were required to make it suitable. It remains unclear whether that building became the chapel known in later years.
The 1846 tithe map shows two buildings on the site, possibly two cottages or a cottage and a stable. The 1861 census is the first to list a chapel at its later location, describing it as a “Baptist Chapel”.
John Dunn and the early leadership
Little is known about the chapel’s earliest leaders. The earliest leader for whom some information survives is John Dunn, who lived at Penstone for many years. At his funeral in 1939, he was described as having been “the leader of the mission at Coleford for many years”.
Dunn, a railway ganger who worked on the line between Copplestone and Yeoford, was born at Down St Mary in 1852 and moved to Coleford when he married in the 1880s. Initially, he lived in a cottage on the right at the top of Firestone Hill, before it was demolished in the 1890s. He then spent many years at what is now Riverside, probably becoming the local chapel leader during that time.
Before 1911, Dunn and his family moved to Morchard Road, then spent some time at Copplestone, before settling at Penstone, where he lived in retirement for many years. He and his wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary there in 1933.
After Dunn moved to Morchard Road, he was still recognised as chapel leader, but William Heywood, the blacksmith who had moved into Forge Cottage, also played a prominent part in chapel life.
Baptisms in the stream
During this period, baptisms took place in the stream below Coleford bridge, adjoining Heywood’s garden. The stream would be dammed to provide sufficient depth for the ceremony. Baptism involved full immersion in running water and was for teenagers and adults.
Photographs, probably dating from around the First World War, survive showing participants entering the stream by the steps behind Forge Cottage.
Worship and weekly meetings
In these early years, a regular pattern of worship emerged which continued, broadly unchanged, until the chapel closed in 2015. On Sundays, there was a morning Breaking of Bread service, children’s Sunday School in the afternoon, and a general Gospel service in the evening. A prayer meeting was held on one weekday evening, and a women’s meeting on another afternoon.
The 1919 estate sale and chapel trustees
June 1919 saw the break-up of the Colebrooke Estate, of which Coleford was part. The estate had belonged to the Coryton family of Cornwall since the early seventeenth century.
At an auction held at the Rougemont Hotel in Exeter, John Friend, a farmer of Lower Rewe, Shobrooke, purchased a block of properties comprising five cottages and the Gospel Hall for £365. In July 1920, he conveyed the chapel, free of charge, to nine trustees, all regular worshippers, including himself.
The conveyance was headed:
Mr JOHN FRIEND to Mr JOHN DUNN and others
The nine original trustees, with their occupations and places of residence, were:
| Trustee | Occupation | Residence |
|---|---|---|
| John Friend | Farmer | Lower Rewe, Shobrooke |
| John Dunn | Railwayman | Copplestone |
| Ernest Harris | Blacksmith | Coleford |
| William Heywood | Retired blacksmith | Coleford |
| Albert Townsend | Commercial traveller | Crediton |
| Samuel Coren | Farmer | Woodland Head |
| George Norrish | Farmer | Higher Wotton |
| William Holcombe | Carpenter and wheelwright | Yeoford |
| Percy Davey | Miller | Copplestone |
Percy Davey’s younger sister, Mabel, attended the chapel and was its regular organist for many years. In 1938, she married Stanley Friend, the son of John Friend. John Friend senior had died in 1934, and Stanley had succeeded his father as a chapel trustee.
The Harris family and Sunday School
During the 1920s, Ernest (“Ern”) Harris became chapel leader. He had served in the First World War as a blacksmith and, on returning, came to live at what is now Pennycott in Coleford. He gradually replaced the ageing William Heywood as the village blacksmith.
Ern was also superintendent of the very well-attended Sunday School, where he was ably assisted by his brothers Herbert (“Bert”) and Edward Harris. Their mother, Mrs Horatia Harris, who lived in part of what is now Burnhills, looked after the infants almost until her death in the 1940s.
By then, Ern’s son, Ernest junior, and his wife Ruth had also become Sunday School teachers. Later, Ernest junior’s son Ken and his wife Wendy carried on the tradition. Eventually, however, the lack of children locally brought the Sunday School to an end. Some years later, dwindling membership led to the chapel’s closure.
Seaside outings and Christmas treats
For many years, the chapel arranged annual events to which local people looked forward. As early as 1927, bus trips to the seaside were organised for the children. By 1939, it was not unusual to see four busloads of children, parents and friends leave Coleford on an early August morning, usually bound for Teignmouth or Paignton.
Another much-anticipated occasion was the annual Sunday School Treat at Christmas. After tea, the children performed recitations they had learnt before a packed audience, with Christmas hymns and carols interspersed throughout. One of the chapel elders acted as master of ceremonies. Finally, Father Christmas arrived to present the children with sweets and suitably inscribed books from the tree.
Those were the days!
Original account written by Neville Enderson, 2015. Prepared for publication on Colebrooke.org with spelling, punctuation and formatting edits; historical details and recollections have been retained.