Aldington Chapel does not look like a typical village chapel. My poem, “Aldington Chapel” begins with the words:
Picture a shoebox with a hipped roof,
Down a quiet country lane.....
That about sums it up, in a nutshell (or a shoebox, even!). It was not built as a place of worship, but was a re-purposed farm building. It was a part of Ivy Farm, as were each of the pairs of cottages either end of it. The substantial farmhouse, Ivy House, was demolished in the 1970s.
Thomas Byrd, the owner of the farm, was a Baptist, and was very sympathetic to their cause when they were seeking premises in Aldington to establish a new Chapel. He allowed them to use one of his farm buildings, which might well have been a milking parlour. This was ideal, as it fronted on to the lane. It was cleaned up and suitably converted for its new purpose.
The grand opening was on 1st May 1881, when the Sunday School register then contained 70 names. There had been meetings in the village for a few years previously, but I do not know where they were held, but most likely in a private house.
The “new room”, as it was sometimes called, was a huge success. By 1889, the average Sunday School attendance was 90 children. They were taught by no fewer than 11 teachers. Most of the children must have come from other villages nearby to reach such numbers. There was already talk of building additional classrooms, but there is no evidence that they were ever built. Shortage of space seems to have been a perennial problem, and in the summer time many services took place outside (see 1905 photo).
As well as being used by the local Baptists, the Chapel became an important amenity for the village as a whole: concerts, tea parties and celebrations and all sorts of social events. Other religious organisations also used it on occasions.
Arthur Savory, the village Squire , who lived in Aldington Manor, failed to mention the Chapel in his book "Grain and Chaff from a Country Manor", despite the fact that it played such an important part of village life , and was only a stone's throw from his door. Terry Sparrow mentioned this glaring omission in his book "A Brief History of Badsey and Aldington". I had already independently noticed the same thing.
Savory was very strongly 'C of E', and a Churchwarden at Badsey Church. It must be assumed that the omission was deliberate, and that he disapproved of 'Chapel Folk'. This despite the fact that some of his farm workers and their children helped to swell the congregations! His views on non-conformity was typical of those of the gentry and clergy at that time.
He did , however, cross the Chapel threshold on at least one occasion. A boy from the village was tragically drowned in the Millpond in 1895. Two days afterwards, an inquest was held in the 'Mission Room', at which Arthur Savory was the Foreman of the Jury. It would appear that his devotion to duty was greater than his distaste of the place where it was to be performed.
Two names which appear time and time again in reports of the Sunday School activities , are those of Mr. William Hartwell and Mrs Hartwell. They were not Aldington people, and lived in Northwick Road, Bengeworth. They were very active in the first two decades of the twentieth-century. In one report, Mr. Hartwell was referred to as the Superintendent. I get the impression that they were very much in charge of the Sunday School up to the 1920s, and possibly beyond. An earlier Superintendent in 1889 had been Mr. F.H. Drinkwater.
Ownership of the Farm and associated buildings including the Chapel passed to John Byrd in the 1920s. My mother, Doris Savage, attended the Sunday School in the 1920s, as did many other Badsey children. She often told us about the old pot-bellied stove, which sometimes filled the room with smoke. That was her most enduring memory of her visits there!
During my childhood and early youth in the 1950s, I would often walk past the Chapel , but I never went inside. Living in the north end of Badsey ,we considered Aldington to be part of our 'patch'. In those days children roamed far and wide.
Both adult services and the Sunday School continued up to the early 1970s, less frequently as time went by. After these had ended, the building became a storage area for implements, crates and boxes. The condition of the building deteriorated rapidly.
Ivy House was demolished in the 1970s, and it was thought that the Chapel would follow suit. The furniture was removed , and the hand-carved pulpit was taken to Bretforton Chapel. I heard reports that it had become infested with vermin, and people living near to it had reported this to the Council. How and why it escaped demolition I have never been able to find out. In the late 1970s it was sold to a builder, who converted it for domestic use.
The housing market then went into steep decline, and for the best part of a year, The Old Chapel remained unsold, despite at least three price reductions. It started to look a little neglected, and the garden had gone wild. The builder became increasingly desperate to sell, in order to recoup his outlay. At this stage , my wife Hazel, and I saw it, viewed it, and made a successful offer. We wondered what was wrong with it, and 44 happy years later , we still don't know! We love it , and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. When my mother was alive, up to her eighties, she would walk here from Badsey, just as she had done 70-odd years before to attend the Sunday School.
One of my most treasured possessions, although of little monetary value, is a little brass medallion, enscribed on both sides with biblical texts , which I dug up in the garden. It would have been awarded to a pupil from the Sunday School many years ago. It provides a God-given link to the Chapel's glorious past.
Dates of known events
- 25 May 1879 – Baptists hold first service in Aldington.
- 1 May 1881 – ‘New Room' opened, 70 names in Sunday School register.
- 1887 – Sunday School Anniversary; a number unable to gain admission to evening service.
- 5 Jan 1889 – Sunday School treat; 100 sat down to tea in the 'Baptist Mission Room'; average attendance: 90 children,
- 4 May 1889 – “Service of Song", visit by Congregational Choir of Broadway to the 'Aldington Baptist Mission '.
- 18 May 1895 – Inquest at the 'Mission Room' into the drowning in the Millpond of John Jelfs, aged 8, two days earlier. The Foreman of the jury was Mr. A. H. Savory; Verdict: Accidental Drowning. ( Berrow's Worcester Journal.)
- 7 Aug 1915 – Sunday School outing to Broadway on a number of drays, arranged by their Superintendent, Mr. Hartwell.
- 8 Jan 1916 – Christmas Tree and concert, in the ' Baptist Schoolroom'. Gifts from the tree presented to the children by Mr. A Butler, followed by a concert; many children took part with names of children and songs listed.
- 14 Apr 1917 – Concert for "the boys", to send parcels to Aldington men away at war; 'The Room' was crowded and £8 -4 -0 was raised, many local performers were named.
- 24 Jun 1918 – Anniversary service at the 'Mission Sunday School', display of flowers in the afternoon; next evening a lecture on "The Holy Land", singing by children to a packed audience; Mrs. Hartwell, who fell off her bicycle on her way to the service was progressing favourably.
- 5 Jun 1953 – Coronation Festivities, 30 villagers watched the Coronation on television in the 'Mission Hall'; teas were provided for adults and children and a social evening followed.
- 2 Oct 1981 – First householders move in, 100 years after opening of the Chapel.
It is interesting that none of the reports refer to the 'Chapel'. It is called a number of different things, but never the Chapel !
Brian Smith, March 2025.