Castle Gate Congregational Centre

Castle Gate Congregational Centre is in Nottingham. It is a Grade II listed building.[1]

Castle Gate Congregational Centre
Castle Gate Congregational Centre
Map
DenominationFormerly Congregational now Independent

History

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The congregation formed in the 1650s. The first meeting house on Castle Gate was established in 1689 under the Act of Toleration.[2]

The present building was erected in 1863 to designs by the architect Richard Charles Sutton,[3] and opened for worship in 1864. The congregation suffered from some embarrassment in 1866 when Henry Walter Wood, local architect and surveyor petitioned for divorce from his wife on the grounds of her adultery with George Eaton Stanger, surgeon and a deacon of the Chapel. The trial in 1867 lasted three days and was widely reported in the National press. Wood was awarded £3,000 from Stanger in damages.[4]

In 1972 the congregation joined the United Reformed Church and three years later merged with St. Andrew's United Reformed Church, Goldsmiths Street. In 1980 the congregational federation purchased the buildings back again.

In 2010, the El Shaddai International Christian Centre took out a 5-year lease on the building.[5]

Daughter churches

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The church was successful and spawned other churches, including:[6]

Ministers

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  • John Ryther 1686 - 1704
  • Richard Bateson 1704 - 1739
  • James Sloss 1739 - 1772
  • Richard Plumbe 1773 - 1791
  • Richard Alliott 1795 - 1843 (afterwards minister at York Road Congregational Church, London)
  • Samuel McAll 1843 - 1860 (afterwards Theological Tutor at Hackney College)
  • Clement Clemence 1860 - 1875[7] (afterwards minister at Camberwell Congregational Church, London)
  • John Bartlett 1875 - 1883
  • R. Baldwin Brindley 1883 - 1901 (afterwards minister at George Street Congregational Church, Croydon)
  • Alexander Roy Henderson 1902 - 1919
  • E.J. Hawkins 1920 - 1930
  • G. Hartley Holloway 1931 - 1937
  • J.E. James 1941 - 1943
  • R. Angel Wakely 1944 - 1950
  • Ronald Ward 1953 - 1959
  • Robert Duce 1961 - 1970
  • Brian Nuttall 1971 - 1975

Organ

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The new church of 1864 had a new organ constructed in 1865 by Forster and Andrews for £449 (equivalent to £54,225 in 2023).[8] This was sold to Hyson Green United Reformed Church in 1908.

The church obtained the current organ in 1909. It had been constructed for Councillor George E. Franklin at his house, The Field, in Derby in 1903. It was by James Jepson Binns and cost about £3,500 (equivalent to £474,728 in 2023).[8]

Organists

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References

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  1. ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1246574)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  2. ^ History of Castle Gate Congregational Church, Nottingham, 1655-1905. James Clarke, London. 1905.
  3. ^ Pevsner Architectural Guides, Nottingham. Elain Harwood. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12666-2
  4. ^ "A Divorce Case. £3000 damages". Louth and North Lincolnshire Advertiser. England. 16 March 1867. Retrieved 16 February 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ Nottingham Evening Post, 8 May 2010
  6. ^ History of Castle Gate Congregational Centre, Nottingham. 1655-1905. A. R. Henderson. James Clarke & Co, Fleet Street, London. 1905
  7. ^ Men of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. R. Mellors. S. R. Publishers Ltd. 1969
  8. ^ a b UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  9. ^ Nottingham Evening Post - Tuesday 13 May 1930, p.5. A new Nottingham Organist.