Crawley New Town: Protestant nonconformity

PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY.

Chapels in Ifield parish, and other chapels opened before 1947, are treated elsewhere. (fn. 1)

A site for a Baptist church at Tilgate was bought in 1957; from 1958 services were held in the community hut there. A temporary church was dedicated in 1960. The congregation was at first united with Crawley Baptist church in Crabtree Road, but they separated in 1967. The new South Crawley Baptist church, Ashdown Road, Tilgate, opened in 1970. (fn. 2)

The Gospel Hall in Spencers Road (fn. 3) was probably replaced by one in Three Bridges Road registered in 1951 by Christians not otherwise designated. In 1957 the Plymouth Brethren were said to be building a church in Southgate, and Christians not otherwise designated opened Southgate Hall there in 1957, replacing the Gospel Hall. It was described c. 1971 andc. 1984 as a meeting place for Brethren. (fn. 4) Three Bridges Free Church, Three Bridges Road, a successor to that built in nearby New Street in 1876, was opened in 1964 on a site made available by the development corporation. (fn. 5)

The development corporation made available sites for two Congregational (later United Reformed) churches: Christ Church, Worth Park Avenue, Pound Hill, opened in 1957, and Trinity church, Ifield. (fn. 6) The United Reformed church, jointly with the Roman Catholics, registered the Church of Christ the Lord, Broadfield, in 1982. (fn. 7)

Jehovah's Witnesses opened Kingdom halls in the Broadway in 1958, in Jubilee Walk, Three Bridges, on a site leased from the development corporation, in 1965, and in Barnfield Road, Northgate, in 1983. (fn. 8)

Methodists met before 1953 at the Old Rectory Barn. The development corporation made available the site for St. Paul's hall church, Northgate, opened in 1953 and rebuilt on an adjoining site in 1966, the old church thereafter continuing as a church hall. (fn. 9) The new church is polygonal, with glass screen walls and an undulating roof.

The Latter Day Saints opened a chapel and hall designed by Sir Thomas Bennett in Old Horsham Road, Southgate, in 1964 on a site made available by the development corporation. (fn. 10)

Spiritualists registered New Town Psychic Centre, New Street, Three Bridges, in 1966. (fn. 11) Crawley Christian Spiritualist church registered Goffs Hall, Horsham Road, for worship in 1965, and moved to a hut at Gossops Green in 1969. (fn. 12)

The Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance met in two community centres before 1971, when they opened Elim Pentecostal church, Langley Drive. (fn. 13) The Assemblies of God met in a room on the Boulevard between 1958 and c. 1971, and opened a church at the Glade, Furnace Green, in 1981. (fn. 14) The Christadelphian Ecclesia met at Three Bridges community centre from c. 1971 or earlier, and there was a Seventh-Day Adventist congregation in Bewbush c. 1984. (fn. 15)