Blakeney tabernacle (General)

by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Sunday, February 17, 2008, 23:01 (6130 days ago) @ jane gould

Blakeney.
In the early 1800s there was a considerable non-conformist movement from the established church,
and a tabernacle was built at Blakeney in 1823, a mile north of the village.
This building is now used as houses.
A replacement tabernacle was built in the village in 1849 (before the church of England church was built).

In 1823 a small chapel called Blakeney Tabernacle was built by the Revd. Isaac Bridgman just inside the parish boundary at Brain's Green beside the road to Ayleford. Bridgman was a former curate at Holy Trinity church, Harrow Hill, in the Forest, who had found difficulty in confining his views to established church doctrine. (fn. 72) Anglican liturgy was at first used for the services, but in 1825 the congregation joined the Independents. Bridgman, who remained minister until c. 1828, (fn. 73) also registered a house in Etloe in 1827. (fn. 74) In 1849 the congregation left the Brain's Green chapel for a new one, also called the Tabernacle, built in Blakeney village on the Ayleford road. (fn. 75) In 1851 the new chapel, then styled Independent but later Congregational, had average congregations of 265 in the morning and 205 in the evening. (fn. 76) In 1972, when it became part of the new United Reformed Church, the church at Blakeney had 20 members and two lay preachers under a settled minister who also served chapels in nearby parishes. (fn. 77) The chapel closed in 1988. (fn. 78)

From: 'Awre', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 14-46. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23250. Date accessed: 18 February 2008.

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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>