OLD PLYMOUTH . UK
www.oldplymouth.uk
 

©  Brian Moseley, Plymouth
Webpage created: February 07, 2020
Webpage updated: February 07, 2020

        

PLACES OF WORSHIP IN OLD PLYMOUTH

SAINT THOMAS'S MISSION CHAPEL, LOWER LANE

A Mission had been setup in a warehouse in Lower Lane many years earlier, but had become so overcrowded that a new Mission Chapel was needed.  Every Sunday and even on weekdays, some 90 to 100 adults had been attending services and Bible-classes.  One of the curates of the Ancient Parish Church of Saint Andrew the Apostle, the Reverend B B Liptrott, inserted a notice in the Parish Magazine appealing for funds to erect such a building.  Amongst the offers he received was one from a mystery lady who offered to buy the site for the Chapel and pay the cost of its construction.

At the laying of the memorial stone on Wednesday April 1st 1885 that mysterious lady's name was divulged - Mrs Kelly, widow of the late Alderman John Kelly, twice Mayor of the Borough of Plymouth.  The memorial stone was laid by the Reverend Prebendary Wilkinson DD.

The Chapel was designed by Mr Charles King, of Princess Street, Plymouth.  In addition to a hall capable of seating up to 400 people, a commodious class room and an underground kitchen for preparing teas, the Chapel also boasted an outside pulpit.  The contractor was Mr Finch.

It is not known when the Mission Chapel was officially opened nor when exactly it was dedicated to Saint Thomas the Apostle.

Saint Thomas's Mission Chapel building still exists.