Hayes: Protestant nonconformity

PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY.

In 1672 a house was licensed for Presbyterian worship. (fn. 1) Little further is known of dissenting activity in Hayes until 1831, when there was said to be a place of worship for Independents. (fn. 2) During the 1830s and early 1840s several houses were licensed for meetings of unidentified dissenters. These included Gothic House, Hayes, and two cottages at Wood End Green. (fn. 3)

John and Charles Wesley preached in Hayes church on at least ten occasions between 1748 and 1753, (fn. 4) and George Whitefield also visited the parish in 1750. (fn. 5) It has been assumed that John Wesley was married to Mrs. Vazeille at Hayes in 1751 (fn. 6) but there appears to be no proof of this. By 1816 the Methodists had erected a small chapel in Hayes; (fn. 7) and in 1874 the Morgan's Lane Tabernacle was said to be in existence. (fn. 8) Nothing else is known of the Methodist congregation until 1906, when the Hayes Tabernacle at Wood End Green was registered by Wesleyan Methodists. (fn. 9) The registration was cancelled in 1927 when the Methodist church in Morgan's Lane, Hayes End, was opened. (fn. 10) This in turn was closed when the church in Uxbridge Road was registered in 1935. (fn. 11) In 1961 the church was a large north-facing red-brick building with a slate roof. A Methodist church, about which nothing more is known, was opened in Clayton Road in 1909. (fn. 12) The registration (dated 1927) of another Methodist church, in Station Road, (fn. 13) was cancelled in 1930 on the registration of the Queen's Hall, Station Road. (fn. 14)

A Baptist chapel had been erected in Hayes by 1835 (fn. 15) and one still existed in the mid 19th century. (fn. 16) The Salem Baptist chapel, which belonged to John Weekly, was registered in 1843, (fn. 17) and may be identifiable with the earlier chapel. By 1849 the trustees of the Salem chapel had acquired land fronting on Uxbridge Road to hold for the order of the Particular Baptists of Strict Communion. During the 19th century there was a chapel school next door to the Uxbridge Road chapel, and by 1943 the old chapel was itself used as the school. (fn. 18) The Salem chapel in Uxbridge Road was registered again in 1897 and in 1908 (fn. 19) when the present small building was erected. (fn. 20) The Particular Baptists registered the Hayes Tabernacle at Wood End Green in 1872. (fn. 21) It was licensed for marriages in 1873, (fn. 22) but the registration was cancelled in 1906. (fn. 23) A Baptist Tabernacle hall was said to have been in existence in 1913 (fn. 24) in Station Road. This was probably the forerunner of the Baptist chapel which was opened in Station Road, at Botwell, in 1922, (fn. 25) and was called the Baptist Tabernacle in 1923. This registration was cancelled in 1934, (fn. 26) after a new Tabernacle had been built in Coldharbour Lane. (fn. 27) In 1960 the chapel had 96 members. (fn. 28) The Baptists set up a mission church in Lansbury Drive, Grange Park, in 1934, (fn. 29) and the church was officially founded in 1946. In 1960 it had 105 members. (fn. 30) In 1961 the brick building consisted of a single story with a hall at the rear.

The Hayes Town Congregational chapel, founded in 1788, (fn. 31) was first mentioned in 1841 when a piece of land in Church Road was in the hands of the chapel trustees. Before this date it was known as the Hayes Town chapel, but the name was then altered to the Hayes Congregational chapel. (fn. 32) The chapel was in existence in 1874 (fn. 33) and was registered by the Congregationalists in 1884. (fn. 34) By 1939, however, it was disused and services were held in premises 'not far away'. Although the old premises had been damaged by fire the chapel, gallery, and basement were still used for Sunday schools, youth meetings, and other activities. (fn. 35) In 1955 a new chapel, on the corner of Church Road and St. Mary's Road, was registered (fn. 36) and a hall was to be added with the proceeds of the sale of the old building. (fn. 37) In 1959 the old chapel was demolished during road widening.

The Botwell Brotherhood and Sisterhood meetings were first started in 1913, the Brotherhood meeting in a cinema, and the Sisterhood in the Baptist Tabernacle hall, both in Station Road. The sites were acquired by Woolworths, and the meetings moved to a hall built by the Brotherhood members, also in Station Road, next to the Post Office. In the early 1930s, this hall was sold for Post Office extensions and the Central Hall, Coldharbour Lane, was built in 1932. (fn. 38) In 1961 the Brotherhood had a membership of about 40, and the Sisterhood one of 100, both organizations being non-sectarian and non-political. (fn. 39)

The Salvation Army registered a barracks in Hayes between 1887 and 1896, (fn. 40) and their hall in Coldharbour Lane was registered in 1927. (fn. 41)

The Hayes Spiritualist Society registered the Albert Hall, Albert Road, in 1947. (fn. 42) The Elim Church, in Keith Road, was registered in 1951 by the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance; (fn. 43) the singlestory building, which presumably also dates from 1951, is of red brick. The Apostolic Church registered their chapel in Willow Tree Lane, Yeading, in 1954. (fn. 44) The Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witnesses stood in 1961 behind Church Walk, almost opposite the council offices; it consisted of a long, low, prefabricated building with a small entrance porch, and was probably erected in the 1950s.