Haconby

The spire of the village church welcomes visitors across the meadows as they approach Haconby from the A15, three miles north of Bourne. But there is another religious building in the village, albeit far more modest . . .

The Baptist Chapel at Haconby was built in 1867 and is the smallest galleried chapel of worship in England, being only 24 ft long and a mere 13 ft 6 in wide. It was originally intended to seat only 100 people on the ground floor but due to a mistake by the builder, it was finished 18 inches smaller in width and to make up for the lost seating room, he added two galleries facing each other. They were so close together that worshippers could actually shake hands with each other, if they so wished.

Originally, the chapel was used by the United Baptists and the Primitive Methodists, both non-conformist religious groups with a strong working class bias. After thirty years, around 1899, the Baptists took it over completely.

The tiny building of red brick and blue slate was built in the main street on a piece of land owned by Mr W Brown, Senior, and a brown plaque with white lettering over the door records his philanthropy:

Baptist Chapel erected by W Brown A D 1867

A peppercorn rent of £1 a year was paid to him and when he died on 21st July 1932, his estate, including the chapel, was put up for sale. The people of Haconby raised sufficient funds to buy it for £50 and it has been in use ever since.

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