Monument record 7198/281/1 - Toller Congregational Chapel, Gold Street

Built in 1723, repaired in 1728, 1741 and 1772 due to structural faults. A major alteration and refitting was undertaken in 1849, the present front was added c1875 and a further drastic refitting occurred in 1898-9, all of which has left little of the original structure left.

{1} Brick building erected in 1723 has a Sunday School and burial ground attached to it. Location identified from 'Robert Smith's Plan of the Town 1826 (NRO Misc. photostat 1587/1). A British Women's Temperance Society was established in 1884 at the Toller Congregational Chapel. There is a building in that location at the present time, but it was covered with scaffolding and could not be seen during the field visit; the building is not listed and is therefore likely to be a later structure. Film 3 photo 14.

{2} Built 1723 but little recognisable of that date. The side with the ironstone facing and the arched windows on two floors looks late Georgian and the red-brick façade with two short towers is of 1875.

Meetings formerly held in a building in Allen's Yard were transferred to the present newly-erected meeting-house on Bakehouse Hill or Newland in 1723 and the building was registered April 1724. The church experienced two notable ministries: of Thomas Northcote Toller (1777-1821) and his son Thomas Toller (1821-75), in honour of which the chapel was renamed. The chapel has brown ironstone walls and a hipped slate roof; the later front is of red brick. The original side wall facing Meeting Lane, much altered but probably formerly of four bays, has two tiers of windows. The interior originally had two pillars to support the roof, replaced by four in 1741 and superseded by iron pillars in 1989-9. Among the fittings removed in 1849 was a 24-brach chandelier with dove and olive branch.

{4} The burial ground the rear of the chapel includes a slab recording the foundation of the 'Great Meeting', Kettering's first independent chapel in 1736. Includes the tomb of Reverend Toller and of the printer, publisher, and collector Thomas Dash.

<1> Ballinger J., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Kettering (Industrial), p. 60 (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100283.

<2> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.272 (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<3> The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1986, Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting-Houses: Northamptonshire & Oxfordshire, p. 141-2/site 32 (Report). SNN2902.

<4> Bailey, B, Pevsner, N, and Cherry, B, 2013, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p. 359 (Book). SNN111989.

Record last edited

Mar 28 2023 3:35PM