Historian Martyn Taylor tells the story of Bury St Edmunds' much-renamed 'Independent Chapel'
The earliest non-conformist chapel in Bury St Edmunds from 1646, the Independent Chapel in Whiting Street is now the United Reformed Church, which came into being in 1972 when the Congregational Church and the Presbyterian Church amalgamated.
It is mainly timber framed internally, though rebuilt in 1804 at a cost of £1.200. Further work costing £600 was carried out in 1869 and a church hall for a Sunday school was added in 1887.
The obelisk memorial erected on the forecourt by Hanchets is a smaller version of the Martyr’s Memorial in the Great Churchyard and is to Elias Thacker and John Coping. During Elizabeth I’s reign they were hanged for disseminating literature, not wanting the monarch to be head of the English Church, following the teachings of Robert Browne’s 'Brownist Movement', an early non-conformist sect later to became Congregationalists.
As an opposer to the Anglican Church, Browne fled to the Low Countries (Netherlands) under the protection of a relative, William Cecil, Lord Burghley.
During the 18th century, the Independent Chapel was attended by cloth makers, wool and yarn dealers, especially the Cumberland and Corsbie families, as well as William Buck, once partner to James Oakes.
Oakes went into banking and Buck went into partnership with brewer Benjamin Greene.
This drawing of the chapel shows the view from College Lane (Hog Lane), however the graveyard was closed for usage in 1856, a year after the opening of the Borough Cemetery. The Great Churchyard itself was closed in this year by an Act of Parliament which decided that burials in urban areas could be detrimental and injurious to the wellbeing of residents. Allowed though, were burials of deceased family members re-united with their departed loved ones.
Today, the Independent Chapel burial ground is a car park.
Martyn Taylor is a local historian, author and Bury Tour Guide. His latest book, Going Underground: Bury St Edmunds, is widely available.
