Top Chapel in Mill Road
West Mersea Free Church began as an Independent or Congregational chapel and opened for worship on 1 October 1805. It was later called the Congregational and Baptist Union Church and Union Church. The local name Top Chapel survived those changes.
Land from an oyster merchant
Bennett Hawes, a local oyster merchant, gave land at Little Pattens in 1805 for the chapel. The road was then Shelleys Lane; it later became Chapel Road and is now Mill Road. A trust deed dated April 1836 confirmed the gift.
Hawes served as a deacon for 35 years. He died in 1846, aged 82, and was buried at Lion Walk Church in Colchester. His gift of land preceded the 1841 rebuilding by more than three decades; the 1836 trust deed recorded an earlier donation rather than a new foundation.
The rebuilt chapel and schoolroom
George Lufkin of Colchester rebuilt the chapel in 1841. A tablet on the building records his work. A schoolroom was established at the rear around the same period and served as a day school. A manse stood behind the chapel; when it was demolished in 1995, a brick marked 1833 was found in its fabric.
The schoolroom behind the chapel probably dates from around 1841. The manse was probably built in the 1830s; when it was demolished in 1995, a brick bearing the date 1833 was found in its fabric. That marked brick is useful evidence for the building, though it does not by itself date every part of the manse.
The chapel brought together Congregationalists and Baptists who had previously held some of their meetings in barns. John Bawtree Harvey was pastor from 1844 to 1858. Charles Cock, a local farmer who served without pay, began his ministry in 1859 and remained for 31 years. During the Second World War the schoolroom served as a canteen for troops; by the end of the war it had provided about 30,000 meals and 75,000 cups of tea.
Twentieth-century alterations
The chapel roof was re-slated in 1949. A baptistry was built in 1966, with assistance from a £200 bequest. The congregation adopted the name West Mersea Free Church in 1985. A major refurbishment completed in April 1987 replaced pews with chairs, renewed the floor and updated heating and lighting.
In 1970 the wooden schoolroom floor was replaced by concrete. The room had served as a wartime troop canteen, and the church’s own history records approximately 30,000 meals and 75,000 cups of tea served there. Alterations during the 1970s and 1980s included new rooms and changes to the entrance and facilities.
William White's early grocery shop stood opposite the chapel; the separate Methodist chapel also stood in Mill Road.