PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY.
The
Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, after an
unsuccessful attempt to establish itself in Worthing
in 1765, (fn. 83) had two houses registered for worship in
Worthing in 1800 and 1803. (fn. 84)
The Independent, later Congregational, chapel in
Chapel Street, later Portland Road, was built in
1804. (fn. 85) It had been repaired and improved by 1817, (fn. 86)
there was a Sunday school of 80 children c. 1826, (fn. 87)
and the chapel was enlarged and refronted in the
1840s. (fn. 88) In 1851 there were 197 morning and 276
evening worshippers and c. 130 Sunday school
children. (fn. 89) The chapel was apparently renovated
c. 1890, but not long afterwards it became too small
for the congregation, and a new church to hold 650
was opened at the junction of Shelley and Buckingham roads in 1903. Afterwards called the Congregational cathedral of West Sussex (fn. 90) it joined the
United Reformed Church in 1972. (fn. 91) The original
building was used as shops in 1976, and demolished
in 1978.
The Tabernacle in Montague Street was opened
in the late 1830s (fn. 92) as an 'Independent chapel for the
promulgation of Calvinistic doctrine' and for interdenominational worship. (fn. 93) It was registered in
1839 (fn. 94) but its early success was soon vitiated by
disputes and lawsuits. (fn. 95) It was used by Independent
Congregationalists in 1851 when there were 50
morning and 80 evening worshippers. (fn. 96) It was
afterwards temporarily used for Anglican worship (fn. 97)
and by 1859 it was let for, inter alia, concerts and
lectures, as the Montague Hall. (fn. 98) It was also the
town's main theatre until 1884, (fn. 99) and was used by
many organizations including the Salvation Army. (fn. 1)
The building was registered as the Worthing Free
Church in 1888, (fn. 2) and re-registered as the undenominational Worthing Tabernacle in 1896. (fn. 3)
Between c. 1906 and c. 1922, as the St. James's Hall,
the building was used for concerts (fn. 4) and other
entertainments. (fn. 5) It later became a shop, and
survived in 1977. (fn. 6)
It had been replaced by the Worthing Tabernacle
in Chapel Road, registered in 1908. (fn. 7) The West
Worthing Tabernacle school hall in Rugby Road
was registered in 1912, (fn. 8) and the St. James's Hall in
High Street was registered as an evangelical free
church in 1926. By 1949 it was the St. James's
(later Worthing) Evangelical Free church. (fn. 9) St.
James's and the Tabernacle had joined the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches by 1934,
and the West Worthing church joined in 1943. (fn. 10)
The East Worthing Evangelical Free church in
Pendine Avenue was registered in 1934. (fn. 11) The
building was used as a store in the Second World
War and later became the East Worthing Baptist
church. (fn. 12) The Evangelical Protestants' Hall in
Chatsworth Road was registered in 1909; (fn. 13) in 1957
the building was sold for use as a factory. (fn. 14)
The New Street chapel on the corner of Graham
Road and Montague Street was registered for
worship by protestant dissenters in 1861. (fn. 15) It was
variously described as Baptist, (fn. 16) Free Christian, (fn. 17)
Congregational, (fn. 18) and Evangelical Protestant. (fn. 19) Its
registration for worship was cancelled in 1909, when
the congregation probably moved to Chatsworth
Road, (fn. 20) and in 1977 the building was used as shops.
A Presbyterian church in Worthing, later St.
Columba's, was founded in 1927 (fn. 21) and a church for
250 was opened in Heene Road in 1931. (fn. 22) A new
church was built in St. Michael's Road in 1937 (fn. 23)
and became a member of the United Reformed
Church c. 1972. The original church was used as a
church hall in 1977. (fn. 24)
In 1811 nine Wesleyan Methodists met in a
private house, (fn. 25) and a Wesleyan Methodist chapel
was built in Marine Place in 1822. (fn. 26) It was superseded in 1840 by a new chapel with a three-bay
neo-Egyptian facade, designed by C. Hide, in
Bedford Row. There were c. 140 morning and
evening worshippers and 60 Sunday school children
in 1851. (fn. 27) The Worthing circuit was formed in
1870, (fn. 28) and the Bedford Row chapel was superseded
by a church in Steyne Gardens opened in 1900. (fn. 29)
The Marine Place chapel, still used for worship in
1851, (fn. 30) was sold in 1852 and the Bedford Row
chapel in 1901. (fn. 31) Both buildings were used as
factories in 1977. A Wesleyan chapel in Tarring
Lane, later Tarring Road, was registered for
worship in 1884 (fn. 32) and remained in use in 1976. The
Offington Park Wesleyan church was opened at the
south-west corner of Broadwater green in 1932. It
became the church hall after a new church for 400
was opened in 1959; the church had 32 clubs and
societies in 1977. (fn. 33)
A Primitive Methodist chapel was recorded in
Marine Place in 1865, (fn. 34) and there was a preaching or
mission room in Montague Street in 1873 (fn. 35) and
1878, (fn. 36) possibly at the corner of Montague Street
and Crescent Road on a site bought for a chapel in
1874. (fn. 37) It had closed by 1881. The Worthing
mission was formed in 1875 and became a circuit in
1894. There was a cottage meeting in Wenban Road
in 1874, and an iron chapel was opened in Chapel
Road in 1880. It was moved to Lyndhurst Road in
1893, and was opened after use as an emergency
hospital during the typhoid outbreak. A new chapel,
which remained in use in 1977, was opened in
Lyndhurst Road in 1929. The iron chapel was taken
down after the Second World War. A new church
was opened in Chapel Road in 1893; it was closed in
1956 and demolished in 1958. The Wesleyan and
Primitive Methodists combined to form the
Wesleyan Methodist circuit in 1937. (fn. 38)
Baptist (fn. 39) services were held in 1878 by W. Stead,
a pupil of C. H. Spurgeon, (fn. 40) in a room in Ann
Street, and later in the Montague Hall. A church of
20 members was formed in 1879 and in 1881 a
Particular Baptist chapel was opened in Christchurch
Road. (fn. 41) It was registered for worship in 1883 (fn. 42) and
was replaced in 1885 by a church holding 500. (fn. 43) The
Worthing church has done much to found new
churches in the district. (fn. 44) In 1903 it started evening
services and a Sunday school in Broadwater where a
small church was opened in Penfold Road in 1905.
The church, which was soon extended, remained a
mission of the Worthing church until 1937. A new
building was opened in 1969; the original building
remained in use in 1970 (fn. 45) but was used as a builder's
office in 1976. (fn. 46) From the early 20th century the
Worthing Baptist church greatly helped the Baptist
congregation at Nepcote in Findon which moved to
a temporary building in Findon Valley in 1939, and
became the Findon Valley Free Church (Baptist) in
1940. The building was enlarged in 1948, and the
church acquired its own minister in 1949. (fn. 47) A new
church was opened on the corner of Findon Road
and Limetree Avenue in 1958, (fn. 48) and the old church
was demolished after c. 1964. (fn. 49) In 1946 the Worthing church bought the former East Worthing
Evangelical Free church in Pendine Avenue, which
became the East Worthing Baptist church. It was
registered for worship in 1947 (fn. 50) and became an
independent church c. 1951. (fn. 51) Undenominational
cottage meetings were held at Durrington in 1905,
and a small Free church was opened in Greenland
Road in 1912 when it had 72 members. It was
registered in 1925, and in 1943 joined the Baptist
Association. By 1949 it had 100 members, and it
survived in 1976 with 193 members. (fn. 52)
The Calvinist Hope chapel in Teville Road
recorded from c. 1890 (fn. 53) was closed c. 1906. Meetings
were held at St. Dunstan's Road for a short time, and
in 1907 the small Calvinistic Strict Baptist Ebenezer
chapel was opened in Portland Road. (fn. 54) It continued
in 1976.
The Old Baptist Union Providence chapel in
Marine Place was registered for worship in 1896
and was replaced in 1906 (fn. 55) by the Baptist chapel in
Clifton Road. That in turn was replaced in 1908 by
the Old Baptist Assembly Hall in Bedford Row
which flourished until c. 1928. (fn. 56)
The Salvation Army barracks in Prospect Place
were registered in 1883. (fn. 57) Sunday services were held
in the Montague Hall by 1884 when there were
violent riots against the Army in the town. On one
occasion troops were called from Brighton and the
Riot Act was read. As a result the tenancy of the
Montague Hall was ended, and Sunday services
were afterwards held in the barracks. (fn. 58) Barracks
were registered in Crescent Road in 1887 and later, (fn. 59)
and a new hall founded there in 1912 (fn. 60) remained in
use in 1977. (fn. 61) Salvation Army quarters were
recorded in Milton Street c. 1914. (fn. 62)
Christian Scientists met in the St. James's,
formerly Montague, hall in 1910, (fn. 63) and the Christian
Science Society met in Broadway c. 1914. (fn. 64) A hall,
later the First Church of Christ Scientist, Worthing,
was opened in Broadwater Road in 1921 and
enlarged in 1930. A new church was opened in
1939 (fn. 65) and there was a reading room in Brighton
Road in 1976. (fn. 66) The Second Church of Christ
Scientist, Worthing, started in 1938 with meetings
in a private house in West Worthing. In 1939 a
bungalow was bought in Grand Avenue where
services were held until a Sunday school was
completed in 1951. Services were held in the Sunday
school until a new church was opened in 1960, when
the bungalow was demolished. (fn. 67) There was a
reading room in Tarring Road in 1976. (fn. 68)
A small group of Quakers met in various places in
the town from c. 1923. (fn. 69) Part of a house in Downview Road, West Worthing, was registered for
meetings in 1945 (fn. 70) and was replaced by a meetinghouse in Mill Road c. 1958. (fn. 71)
About 1922 c. 15 Jehovah's Witnesses met in a
building in Montague Street. By 1937 meetings
were held at Grafton Road (fn. 72) where they continued
until a Kingdom Hall was registered in Marine
Parade in 1948. (fn. 73) From early 1972 meetings were
held in a room in the town hall. (fn. 74)
A Spiritualist church in Grafton Road recorded
c. 1924 (fn. 75) was registered for worship in 1926, (fn. 76) and
continued in 1977. A Spiritualist Healing Mission
was recorded in Liverpool Road c. 1940, (fn. 77) and a
Spiritual Healing Sanctuary was registered in
Forest Road, Broadwater, in 1948. (fn. 78) A Spiritualist
Brotherhood church was registered in Brougham
Road between 1946 and 1971. (fn. 79)
The Foursquare Gospel Alliance's Elim Pentecostal church in Grosvenor Road was begun in
1931 (fn. 80) and registered for worship in 1932. (fn. 81) It
continued in 1976.
A congregation of Unitarians, formed in 1964,
met in the Friends' meeting-house in Mill Road in
1977. (fn. 82)
The Brethren's meeting-house in Chapel Road,
registered in 1892, (fn. 83) was presumably the Gospel
hall recorded there until c. 1925. (fn. 84) In 1928 the
Christian Brethren registered the former Old
Baptist Assembly Hall in Bedford Row as a Gospel
hall. (fn. 85) It had become the Bedford Row Evangelical
church by 1977. (fn. 86)
The Milton House academy in Brighton Road was
registered by Calvinists in 1877 and survived in
1925. (fn. 87) Another meeting-room in Brighton Road
was recorded between 1900 and 1940. (fn. 88) The West
Worthing Assembly was recorded c. 1910 (fn. 89) and the
Veritas, later Unity, Hall, Ann Street, was registered
for non-sectarian Christians in 1914. Its registration
was cancelled in 1928 but the hall was still recorded
c. 1930. (fn. 90) Meeting-rooms registered in Tarring
Road in 1934 were recorded in 1940, (fn. 91) and the
Advent Mission Hall registered for British Advent
Missions in Chapel Road in 1943 had closed by 1946.
The Crusader Hall in Wiston Avenue was registered
between 1952 and 1964, the Clifton Hall in Clifton
Road was registered in 1959, and the Theosophical
Hall in Clifton Road in 1961. (fn. 92)
The history of nonconformist meeting-places in
the area formerly comprising the ancient parish of
Goring is reserved for treatment elsewhere.