27. VICTORIAN WILLINGHAM – RELIGIOUS RIVALRIES

Ever since the 1660’s when the Dissenters in Willingham split from the Church of England there had been fierce rivalry between them. The Dissenters were Congregationalists initially in Willingham, and from 1714 met in a thatched meeting house in George Street next to the George Inn. They formally adopted the Baptist tradition from 1789, and grew rapidly in numbers during the 1800’s. In contrast, the Anglicans at the parish church suffered from having no resident Rector for much of this period, although there was always at least one curate who lived in the village. The Baptists took full advantage of this, and by 1830 had expanded so much they found it necessary to replace their ‘old thatched meeting house’ with a new Baptist Chapel on the same site on the east side of George Street. It opened in 1830, and , with its gallery, seated 750. By the 1850’s Baptist attendances in Willingham were exceeding 400 on Sunday mornings and 700 in the evening, with a large Sunday School for children in between. The Baptists believed very strongly in the importance of Sunday Schools for children and they had regular attendances of well over 100 in mid-century. Throughout the 1840’s and 1850’s there were fierce arguments between Baptists and Anglicans at public meetings over the future of education in the village, before final agreement was reached to build the British School in Fen End in 1856.

With this astonishing rate of growth it was perhaps not surprising that the Baptists would experience some internal dissensions themselves. There were various secessions in 1814, 1820, and 1838 to form separate congregations, but the most dramatic was in 1875 when a new Pastor, William Jackson, led a breakaway group to build a new Baptist Tabernacle directly opposite the 1830 Chapel in George Street. In contrast to the rather plain old Chapel, the architecture of the new competing Tabernacle was quite ornate with twin towers and pinnacles. It too had a gallery. The two buildings remained (and competed) for another 100 years until their demolition in the 1970’s and 1980’s respectively. The present Baptist Church in George Street stands on the site of the demolished Tabernacle.

Meanwhile the Anglicans at the Parish Church undoubtedly suffered during this period from absentee Rectors. They were generally eminent academics at Cambridge University and elsewhere, who spent little or no time in Willingham. The record of John Graham, the Rector who was appointed in 1843 is certainly impressive. When he arrived in Willingham he was already Master of Christ’s College, having twice been Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University. He is said to have ‘enjoyed the close friendship of Prince Albert and the respect of the Queen’. Perhaps such good connections helped when he left Willingham in 1848 to become Bishop of Chester.

To complete the religious scene in Victorian Willingham, the Methodists and Salvation Army also arrived. The Primitive Methodists had a Chapel in Church Street early in the century, which closed in 1865. The Wesleyan Methodists established themselves in a barn in 1836 and recorded attendances of between 65 and 107 at each of three services on Census Sunday in 1851. They built a new Chapel in 1852 overlooking the Green with seating for 160. A Salvation Army ‘barracks’ was established in 1887 and thrived with its own Officer and band. It was replaced by the modern building in Silver Street in 1969.

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