Upton Cheyney URC Chapel

The Church’s roots go back to the 1740s when the ‘Kingswood Preachers’ were evangelising in local villages, John Cennick being the most associated with Upton Cheyney.
Some years later, in 1794, to comply with the law an application was made to the Bishop of Gloucester for a licence to hold non-conformist public worship in the village The document was signed by John Hopes, Stephen Matthews, Tom Proctor, Ann Palmer and John Ferris, and the services were to be held in the house of John Hopes, the same cottage in which John Cennick had preached 50 years before (this house is known as Humberstones).

In the 1820s Mr. and Mrs. William Clark moved to Upton from Little Dean in the Forest of Dean and concluded that “the village had been neglected and the villagers immersed in great darkness”. He therefore invited everyone to come to his house for Bible reading, and one of those who responded was Stephen Jones, an elderly man who remembered meeting at John Hopes’ house. As numbers increased William Clark applied to the Bristol Itinerant Society for preachers, his kitchen became overcrowded, and it was resolved to build a chapel.
A piece of freehold land was secured, and foundations established. During the building work Mr. Clark had much opposition, including the issue of two injunctions to stop. The first was put to one side by the Bristol Court and the second upheld by the Gloucester Court. Undeterred, Mr. Clark applied to the Court of Kings Bench in London, who concluded building work could continue and dismissed the case.

The Chapel was finished at a cost of £360 and opened as an Independent Chapel on 16th September 1834. No doubt building grants were obtained from prominent people in Bristol. Among the trustees were W.D.Wills, H.O.Wills, J.Wills and J.Godwin

The next project overseen by William Clark was extension of the premises to form a day-school house at a cost of £117. Mr. Holmes of Bristol generously donated £100. The school opened on 25th June 1849 with Miss Haskins of Kingwood Hill as teacher and forty children on the register. The teacher was paid £10 per annum with free accommodation in the schoolhouse and would, hopefully, collect 2d per week from each child. The school closed in 1894.

After over 30 years of dogged determination and hard work, William Clark died in 1864. There is a tombstone in his memory in the burial ground, which he had given to the Chapel in 1857. He was described ‘as a man of strong personality’ by a family member at Centenary Celebrations in1934.
The first ordained Minister at Upton was Rev. Thomas Page via a joint pastorate with Hanham Tabernacle in 1851. At this time Mr. William Summerville had a great interest in the Chapel, he later lived at the Lons in Bitton and owned the Bitton Paper Mills.

The arrangement with Hanham continued with Rev. Richard Clark, who was described as “an ideal Pastor and Preacher. He walked in all winds and weather for years and was never late.” The last joint pastorate began in 1857 with Rev F.W.Brown’s ministry at Oldland Common Tabernacle. These ministries indicate close ties with the Gloucestershire and Herefordshire Congregational Union and led Upton Cheyney becoming a Congregational Church.

A series of Lay Pastors followed, notably Mr. (later Sir) John Bodinnar 1907/10 and Mr. Sidney Foster 1921/29. This was the time of growth with young families becoming involved. Henry Lucker had come from Bibury and two of his children remained in Upton for the rest of their lives. Albert and Annie (née Bryan) and their two sons, Bert and Charlie, were all stalwarts of the Chapel. They all loved church music and Albert trained an excellent choir. He and Bert both served as Sunday School Superintendents and Charlie was organist for over fifty years. Henry’s daughter, Matilda, married George Watts of Seedes Farm and their family enjoyed singing in harmony, most of them joining the chapel choir. Albert Lewis and Sidney Bush were also longstanding choir members responsible for singing as tenors for hymns and anthems.
For several years around 1950 the choir were invited into large houses to Christmas to sing carols. Spencer Williams took them all round in his Ford van (no seats or seat belts required in those days) from Upton House to Beach House to Bitton Hill, etc. Singing was unaccompanied the note being given by Sybil Watts using a tuning fork.

The Lewis family connection with the chapel started in the 19th century with Mrs. Clara Lewis (d.1933), whose son Bob Lewis emigrated to Canada and in 1970 covered the cost of a new entrance door in her memory. Another son, George, lived in Monmouth and provided a legacy in 1978. There are commemorative plaques in the chapel and one from the Parker family in thanks and memory of Albert Lewis who worked for them on the Upton Cheyney Estate for many years. Mrs. Clara Hacker (née Lewis) was the first female Deacon in the 1950s.

The association of the Williams family goes back to the time when the children attended the day-school and Sunday School from their home in Golden Valley. As a young man Fred Williams joined the army and served in the Boer War. He posted a New Year card to “the young lady who plays the organ in our dear old Sunday School at Upton. From one who has reasons to bless her and for the great help she has given to him while in South Africa.” The young lady was Miss Bessie Bryan and, on his return, they were married and moved to Bath.

However, they were still drawn to their birthplace and returned to Upton with their three children in 1909. Subsequently Fred became Church Secretary 1919-39, followed by his son Spencer 1939-1986. Spencer and his wife Flora (née Watts) were the caretakers, spending many hours ensuring the premises were kept clean and warm. Every springtime, heedless of health and safety, wooden planks were placed across the top of the pews and a ladder was put up to enable Spencer to reach the ceiling and brush the walls from top to bottom. Meanwhile, Flora with help from Mrs. Gladys Sawyers scrubbed the floors throughout the premises. The Hook family children also walked up from Golden Valley to the day-school and Sunday School. Some of the family moved to Upton and Albert Hook served as Church Treasurer for many years. His wife, Nellie, was a lovely, homely person and they welcomed the Bristol Itinerant Society preachers into their home most Sundays after morning service for lunch and tea before evening service. In spite of rationing and shortages, they carried on during World War II and made lifelong friends.

The preachers had to stay all day because they were brought to the country churches in the morning and taken back to Bristol in the evening by hired car, which called at Warmley, Upton Cheyney, Wick, Marshfield, etc. Previously they had travelled in a horse-drawn vehicle, known as a ‘Coburg’, the horse being stabled at Marshfield for the day for the return journey.

Around the turn of the 19th/20th Centuries a Beach Farmer, John Alway, came from Hinton and with his family, started a long association with Upton Chapel, Frank, one of his sons, became a Deacon and followed Albert Hook as Treasurer until 1992.

Mr. Alfred Coles was particularly interested in Sunday School work and, on his early death, his daughter Emily, took over his class, played the harmonium and coached the children for the anniversaries. Fred’s brother-in-law, Mr. Herbert Spriggs, was also a popular Sunday School teacher and Deacon.

Another Sunday School worker was Mr. Leslie Hall, who later became Superintendent. He married and settled in Upton in the 1940s, and with his knowledge of building work and carpentry gave much practical help in the upkeep of the premises. He served as Church Secretary from 1986 to 2004.

The Church relied on local preachers for 30 years until 1963, when Mr. David Norman from Pipley Bottom became Lay Pastor. At this time the Congregational Union Churches were invited to sign a Covenant to be part of the Congregational Church in England, and church members at Upton Cheyney agreed to take this course of action.

Rev. Richard Ascott was inducted to the pastorate in 1968 and remained until 1979. It was during his ministry (in 1972) that the United Reformed Church was incorporated by Act of Parliament, and Upton Cheney Congregational Church voted to be part of the URC. From 1964 to 2005 Upton Chapel was included in the Hanham, Oldland Common, and Wick URC Group of Churches under Rev. Adrian Phippen.

Failing numbers of people attending and deterioration of buildings caused difficulties over the next few years, and a Resolution was signed in 2010 to close the Church in May 2011. However, this resulted in a renewal of interest from residents of the village and surrounding area with more support for services and fundraising activities. The decision to close was rescinded, and the Upton Renovation Challenge began.

By kind permission of Mr. and Mrs. David Hawking, a large congregation gathered in the Tythe Barn at Manor Farm in November 2012 for the Ordination and Induction of Mrs. Meryl White as non-stipendiary Minister, an appointment which continued until May 2019.

The above history highlights just a few of the dedicated men and women who loved to worship and work in this small village Chapel, set in a beautiful place with an outstanding view across Golden Valley and beyond from a peaceful ‘Quiet Garden ‘set up during Rev. M White’s ministry as part of the worldwide Quiet Garden Movement.

Stuart Turner & Muriel Williams, 2019