GULLIFORD CHAPEL
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NEWS Working parties on a regular basis. If you can
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BACKGROUND
The sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries were of great religious upheaval, swinging from Catholic
to Protestant, until under Oliver Cromwell’s rule which allowed
Non-Conformists to flourish. Charles II tried to bring the clergy back in line
with the “Act of Uniformity” , those who refused were not allowed to preach.
121 clergy were deprived of their living in Devon. At this point in time
Non-Conformists numbered nearly half a million people, a tenth of the
population. William & Mary’s reign show the “Toleration Act” of 1690 giving
freedom to Non-Conformists to worship as long as it was not behind locked
doors.
click to enlarge
One of the preachers who refused to sign the “Act of Uniformity” was the vicar of Woodbury of 16 years, Sam Fones. A band of Presbyterians continued to gather for services at Fones’ home and later the home of Thomas Lee until Lee having given a corner of a field he owned, the first of two chapels were built at Gulliford. The first chapel was built in 1689, by 1715 the congregation numbered 500. In 1774 a second chapel was built (in the style of George’s Meeting House, South Street, Exeter ) on land adjoining the site paid for by Thomas Clarke, the first chapel then pulled down. Gulliford Chapel continued to be popular with the congregation travelling miles to attend, with between 12-13 carriages often parked outside. At some point the chapel became Unitarian. The congregation also included a wide cross section of society with well-to-do middle class merchants, down to humbler folk.
In 1820 another chapel was built this time in the village of Lympstone itself, on a site in Church Road, roughly occupying the Redwing car park and Ellenthorpe. Rev John Jervis over saw its construction but died a fortnight before its opening service, which was postponed two months. However without the popular Rev Jervis and with the new Glenorchy Chapel in Exmouth, the congregation rapidly declined. The Church Road Chapel was let to the Methodists in 1860 but after their own chapel was built, the site was sold off in 1887.
Gulliford Chapel having originally enjoyed its isolation (apart from one violent riot on Gulliford Chapel) where the congregation were prepared to travel, saw a loss in numbers as more chapels else where were built reducing the need to travel so far. Gulliford having been self financing could no longer maintain the building, by 1887 the attendance averaged ten. The linhay was demolished in 1899. Later in 1907, the walls of the chapel needed strengthening, the roof was unsafe, Mr Venman was employed to pull the chapel down .
The Gulliford site is now in the ownership of Lympstone and Woodbury Parish Councils. The perimeter wall and three tombs of Jervis, Lee and Stogdon are listed. Gulliford is to be found off the A376, north of Lympstone, on Meetings Lane opposite the turning into Strawberry Hill (grid ref. SX99110 84167). The site still contains headstones and for those of us who research family history but can not locate their ancestors in the C of E records it would be worth looking in Gulliford’s records at the Devon Record office.
Gulliford is open to the public at all times with no charge.