Chingford URC - History
Our Church was founded over 120 years ago, at a time when there were no churches or chapels in Chingford except the Parish church, the Halls of the Brethren on Kings Head Hill and the Wesleyans at Chingford Hatch.
What is now Station Road was then little more than a lane or at best a village street, with small cottages and shops and a few large houses.
Following the opening of Chingford station in 1880, the area slowly developed from quiet country village into an urban district.
Mr Walter Beeeching and Mr John William Clark, at one time members of Abney Park Congregational Church in Stoke Newington, moved to Chingford and formed the idea of setting up a new Congregational Church there. With the generous financial assistance of Mr James Spicer, a member of the Congregational Church in Woodford Green, this was made possible.
A site was acquired at the corner of Buxton Road and The Drive for this purpose. The cost of the land and buidlings was £2200, with the Spicer family contributing £1700 and the Church members raising £500.
The Church began on 18 November 1888 and met initially in the upper rooms above the shop on the corner of Station Road and Garfield Road, known today as Pound World. The first building in Buxton Road was completed in 1890 and was named Spicer Hall. It was the Church's meeting place for the next twenty years until our present Church building was opened on 19 May 1910.
The current halls, next to the first house in Buxton Road, were constructed in 1923. Spicer Hall remained in use by the Church and local community until 2004 when it was sold and converted to residential purposes, the sale proceeds being used towards the modernisation and integration of the remaining Church buildings which exist today.
The church was known as Chingford Congregational Church until October 1972 when a merger took place, nationally, between the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches to create the United Reformed Church.
In October 1926, the Church Scout Troop, the 27th Chingford, was formed. This was initially under the leadership of Herbert Lovick, and this was followed in May 1929 by the 5th Chingford Guide Company led by Edith Adams.
What is now Station Road was then little more than a lane or at best a village street, with small cottages and shops and a few large houses.
Following the opening of Chingford station in 1880, the area slowly developed from quiet country village into an urban district.
Mr Walter Beeeching and Mr John William Clark, at one time members of Abney Park Congregational Church in Stoke Newington, moved to Chingford and formed the idea of setting up a new Congregational Church there. With the generous financial assistance of Mr James Spicer, a member of the Congregational Church in Woodford Green, this was made possible.
A site was acquired at the corner of Buxton Road and The Drive for this purpose. The cost of the land and buidlings was £2200, with the Spicer family contributing £1700 and the Church members raising £500.
The Church began on 18 November 1888 and met initially in the upper rooms above the shop on the corner of Station Road and Garfield Road, known today as Pound World. The first building in Buxton Road was completed in 1890 and was named Spicer Hall. It was the Church's meeting place for the next twenty years until our present Church building was opened on 19 May 1910.
The current halls, next to the first house in Buxton Road, were constructed in 1923. Spicer Hall remained in use by the Church and local community until 2004 when it was sold and converted to residential purposes, the sale proceeds being used towards the modernisation and integration of the remaining Church buildings which exist today.
The church was known as Chingford Congregational Church until October 1972 when a merger took place, nationally, between the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches to create the United Reformed Church.
In October 1926, the Church Scout Troop, the 27th Chingford, was formed. This was initially under the leadership of Herbert Lovick, and this was followed in May 1929 by the 5th Chingford Guide Company led by Edith Adams.