Proposed Public Shelter in Pensford.
BRISTOL MUSEUMS COLLECTIONS: Pensford Church, Near Bristol (drawing/watercolour)
Collection:
Fine Art
Maker:
MÜLLER, William James (No date)
"This is the letter sent to the Publow and Pensford Parish Council regarding a proposal to erect an oak shelter for public use on the Old Gospel Hall site in Stanton Lane. Regrettably from my point of view, the PC decided it arrived too late to be considered at the June meeting, so it was placed on the Agenda for the July meeting. At that they decided it could not be considered unless and until a formal Planning Application had been submitted. One Councillor expressed strong disapproval which influenced the decision taken. To date I have not received a reply to the letter following either meeting. As a result I have no way of gauging whether the Village would support the idea or not. Before engaging in the considerable time and expense of bringing it to fruition, this would be desirable. I have therefore decided to place the letter to the PC in the public domain and invite the opinion and reaction from Parishioners before I proceed. I shall follow the response with interest. With kind regards and best wishes, Tim Veater."
To the Chairperson and Members of Parish Council.
Dear Cllr Grimes and Members of the Parish Council,
Re: Proposed Shelter, Old Gospel Hall Site, Stanton Drew Lane, Pensford.
Those with local knowledge or who have walked the Stanton Drew Lane recently, may have noticed some minor alterations and improvements to part of the old Gospel Hall site. Gates and fences have been reinstated, an ugly unused electricity pole has been removed by arrangement with the National grid and some clearance and levelling carried out to where the old Gospel Hall once stood. In the process some of the original sloping concrete path has been uncovered which will be retained.
The old Gospel Hall was a wooden structure approximately 40 x 12 feet, plus an additional lean-to at the Western end (Not shown on period photo) and a small entrance porch at the opposite end. It had four square windows along each side and inside it was laid out simply with wooden benches and a slightly raised platform and lectern at the western end.
Warmth for winter months was provided by an upright coke 'Tortoise' room heater. A foot operated harmonium provided the musical accompaniment when required. I believe a piano was also there when the building was demolished. I assume the pine benches were all consumed, with the structure itself, by fire, the circumstances of which remain vague, in about 1988. The area west of the hall was utilized as a car park.
(See image below of hall and fenced parking area, taken in about 1925. Unrelated but note also Mill House, occupied by my grandparents for nearly seventy years, demolished in 1968 following the 'great flood' of July that year. The extended fenced area is now utilized as a horse riding arena))
The site was leased from GWR and latterly British Rail from around 1920 until the mid-1980's when my father, Maurice Bertram Veater, passed away. It was used as an evangelical Brethren 'Assembly' from its creation until 1959 when the new, much more modern structure was built and occupied at Hillcrest. The latter has recently been converted to a domestic dwelling, after falling attendance and Covid restrictions led to its closure in 2022. Thus the Gospel Hall in Pensford, as one of three places of Christian worship, achieved an uncelebrated century of presence in the village - but is now no more.
After the Assembly moved to Hillcrest, the increasingly delapidated building continued to be used for informal youth activities, run by my aunt Mrs Alice Taylor. The building was eventually demolished and removed in the late 1980's, but how this was arranged and by whom, I am unclear. In 1997, as part of a much larger sale of ex-British Rail land, I aquired the plot and have owned it ever since.
The current proposal, reflecting its previous use and a nod to the passing of a village institution, is to erect a modest oak-framed 3 x 4 m shelter on the site, for free public use. It will allow villagers and visitors a place to sit, reflect and perhaps picnic, whilst if necessary sheltering from the elements. It will be a unique and positive facility for the village and should be visually enhancing. The following, for illustrative purposes only, is how the structure might appear in practice..
(For illustrative purposes only)
I am aware members of your Council have previously been informally briefed of the proposal by Dom Lowe and that the response was generally favourable, although one member has expressed concerns. It is intended to work up a detailed proposal for submission to the BANES planners for approval, when it is hoped the Parish Council will feel able to lend its support to the scheme.
Perhaps it might be helpful to add, that although I do not currently live in the village, all my formative years were spent there and for a short while before I left I was an elected Parish Councillor. My grandparents moved to the village in about 1900 and lived in the old Mill House, virtually up to the Great Flood of '68 and my parents occupied 'Maranatha' a stones throw from the site. Most of my ancestors for over four hundred years come from the Chew Valley and Somerset and many still reside in the area.
Perhaps you will be so kind as to bring this letter to the attention of the Parish Council at your next meeting. I would value your response, including any relevant observations by members. Of course, moral support by the Parish Council for the proposal as described would, if possible, be greatly appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
TIM VEATER.
Ordnance Survey Map of Site (Right of Viaduct)
View of Gospel Hall from the West.
The Plymouth Brethren Meeting in Pensford may have a much longer history obscured by time!
2) I have discovered in the 1851 Ecclesiastical Census that there was a Brethren church meeting place in Stanton Drew. On the Sunday of the census (30/03/1851) the attendance was 55 people. The return was provided by a Mr James Tester (shoe manufacturer). Its services would be along the lines of the services in Pensford Gospel Hall which I attended and which closed a few years ago.
I would love to be able to find where that church building was located in Stanton Drew. I wonder if you have any information or whether you could suggest where I might start such a search.
"We did hear back from Roy Hill but only in so far as he said the following:
On reflection, the Brethren assembly in Stanton Drew recorded in the 1851 ecclesiastical survey may not have been in Stanton Drew village but in Pensford as you mentioned that some parts of Pensford were in the Stanton Drew parish. I notice in the introduction to Appendix C on Muller, p 389 [“Places of Worship” book], it is stated 'Plymouth Brethren who used the Tabernacle on Pensford Hill'. That company may have been the 'Stanton Drew' Brethren assembly of that day.
The 'Tabernacle' referred to, is shown here on the left in an early photograph:
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