April 2013:
MARKET RASEN St Thomas, and MARKET RASEN Wesleyan Methodist Church.
St Thomas Church Market Rasen.
Wesleyan Methodist Church, Market Rasen.
In April eighteen members of the Group braved three degrees Centigrade to visit Market Rasen. The warm welcome extended to us at St Thomas church and the Methodist chapel helped to offset the cold, both outside and inside the buildings.
Builders working in Market Rasen from 1860 to1863 must have been extraordinarily busy for the new chapel was opened in 1863 and at virtually the same time St Thomas underwent one of those Victorian makeovers which amounted to a rebuild, for of the original church only the 13th century tower remains with its weatherworn stonework. James Fowler undertook this work as well as the older buildings of the present day comprehensive school. Both places of worship are there for essentially the same purpose and have stood for 150 years since the restoration of one and the building of the other.
In architectural terms they could not be more different. St Thomas is a deliberate revival of medieval gothic, built like so many churches in this county and elsewhere with dark inside walls, illuminated by stained glass. The Methodist chapel, which even Pevsner describes as "impressive", is worlds apart in its style. We have moved from Gothic revival to neoclassicism, its pillared frontage declaring its Greco-Roman parentage and inside there is light everywhere – light wooden pews ,all original and each with doors and numbered. There is room inside the building including the delightfully designed oval gallery for 650 worshippers. The double decker pulpit stands high and prominent, the focus of attention from all parts of the church.
Both these churches require funding for constant upkeep and they do so with declining congregations. The Methodists in the winter months hold their services in a backroom to save fuel costs.
I am grateful to Eric Wilson for this report and to Max Kitchen for the photographs. JRK
Builders working in Market Rasen from 1860 to1863 must have been extraordinarily busy for the new chapel was opened in 1863 and at virtually the same time St Thomas underwent one of those Victorian makeovers which amounted to a rebuild, for of the original church only the 13th century tower remains with its weatherworn stonework. James Fowler undertook this work as well as the older buildings of the present day comprehensive school. Both places of worship are there for essentially the same purpose and have stood for 150 years since the restoration of one and the building of the other.
In architectural terms they could not be more different. St Thomas is a deliberate revival of medieval gothic, built like so many churches in this county and elsewhere with dark inside walls, illuminated by stained glass. The Methodist chapel, which even Pevsner describes as "impressive", is worlds apart in its style. We have moved from Gothic revival to neoclassicism, its pillared frontage declaring its Greco-Roman parentage and inside there is light everywhere – light wooden pews ,all original and each with doors and numbered. There is room inside the building including the delightfully designed oval gallery for 650 worshippers. The double decker pulpit stands high and prominent, the focus of attention from all parts of the church.
Both these churches require funding for constant upkeep and they do so with declining congregations. The Methodists in the winter months hold their services in a backroom to save fuel costs.
I am grateful to Eric Wilson for this report and to Max Kitchen for the photographs. JRK
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