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This
substantial red brick building sits on the
western edge of the village on the road to
Elmswell, and at first I took it to be the old
village school, the car park appearing to me like
an old playground. I had noted from the 1851
Census of Religious Worship that the Baptists had
built a chapel in Wetherden in 1837, but this
building looked too recent. And so it proved,
because the foundation stone was laid as recently
as 1926. I wonder if the yellow brick pediment
with the inscription Providence Baptist
Chapel was reused from the earlier building
- except that it looks late Victorian, in which
case there may have been three churches on this
site.
| In comparison with the
increasing liberal movement within the
Baptist tradition, Wetherden church
appears to adhere to the much more
traditional Grace Baptist movement, if
their website is anything to go by. They
are obviously a busy community, with lots
of events throughout the week, and their
facilities must be a boon to this small
village. Out the back is the
old Baptist graveyard. These are not
uncommon in Suffolk, and they are always
a pleasure to wander. They are a reminder
of the separatist character of some of
these earlier non-conformist communities,
a separatism which, in some places, is
still practiced enthusiastically today.
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Simon Knott, May 2010
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