Renhold Chapel is a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

in the village of

Renhold Renhold is a village and civil parish located on the River Ouse, in the Borough of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. The parish church is situated some 4 miles (6.5 km) east-north-east of Bedford town centre. The former Bedfordshire County ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

, England.

History

Prior to the chapel being built, the chapel meetings on Sunday mornings were held in various homes around the village with 50-60 people attending. These meetings would take the format of a prayer meeting, sometimes with an address. There was also a midweek meeting held in different cottages. When it came to finding a location to build the chapel, many visits were made to Howbury Hall requesting a piece of land to build on, There was opposition from the vicar of the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

in the village along with Captain Polhill Turner, who practically owned the whole of the village and lived at Howbury Hall. Renhold Baptist Chapel was built in 1873 with the opening services taking place on 16 September 1873. There was a Sunday school in the morning followed by a Prayer meeting, then afternoon and evening services. George Laughton was the first secretary and Sunday School Superintendent. After Laughton emigrated to Canada, both posts were taken over by George Harlow. Alterations and modernisation have taken place to the Chapel over the years. Renhold Baptist Chapel

The 140th Anniversary of the chapel was celebrated between 14 and 16 September 2013. There was a family fun day in some of the local gardens along with a historical exhibition on the Saturday in the Chapel Building. On the Sunday morning there was a family service and a Thanksgiving service on the Monday evening reflecting the pattern of Sunday and Monday services that took place in the earlier days of the chapel.

References

External links

The Chapel WebsiteRenhold Chapel's Page on the Village Website
{{coord, 52.1599, -0.3907, display=title Chapels in England Baptist churches in England Churches in Bedfordshire