In Minmi in 1864, after a period of torrential rain, a fissure opened beside Back Creek. The contents of the creek poured in, and the colliery below flooded. All the miners managed to escape, but the pit was closed for months afterwards.

Forced to look elsewhere for employment, a group of Welsh miners moved from Minmi to work the newly opened colliery in Lambton. The men belonged to the Welsh Congregational Church, under the leadership of Rev Evan Lewis. They soon erected a simple wood slab church on De Vitre St. The uncertainty of mining meant that most buildings in Lambton at that time were of a similar primitive and temporary character.

In 1868 however, the Welsh miners expressed a confidence in Lambton below, to match their assurance in God above. They decided that a new building, worthy of its great purpose, should be built of stone. They were granted permission to use a quarry on Newcastle Rd nearby, and the men bound themselves “one to another” in an oath, that they would erect a new building in Dickson St, by their own hands, free of charge.

At the 50th anniversary celebrations in 1918 it was remembered that “Some of the men quarried the stone, others wheeled it to the site, and many, after their shift ended at the pit for the day, put in several hours in building the edifice. One of the workers was Mr. J. Parry, who, though then a coalminer, had originally been a stonemason.”

Above the front porch, an engraving in Welsh reads “Bethel capel annibynol adeiladwyd, A.D. 1868” which translates to “Bethel Independent Chapel, built A.D. 1868” The building ceased to be used as a place of worship in 1977, when the Congregationalists merged with the Uniting Church.

Next year will be the 150th anniversary of the stone building, which stands today as an enduring legacy of the faith of those Welsh miners, even in troubled times past.

An undated photo by Ralph Snowball of the Welsh Congregational Church in Dickson St, Lambton. Newcastle Region Library, image 001 004276.

The church building at 43A Dickson St in 2017, now used as a hair and beauty studio.

The article above was first published in the December 2017 edition of the Lambton & New Lambton Local.

Additional information

Acknowledgements

An important source of information for this article was pages 84-85 of “The Story of Lambton”, published by the Newcastle Family Historical Society. In particular, it has details of the binding oath that the men of the church made regarding the construction of the stone church. A handwritten account by Deacon Richard Thomas details the genesis of the oath, as the men considered the future while maintaining the property of the earlier wooden building.

“One day about seven of us were fencing this ground, it was a warm day and we were taking a spell in the shade of the building. One of the party said ‘to see whether we are in earnest or not let us prove it. I am prepared to give five pounds towards it and one pound each for my three sons.’ At once each of the party promised five pounds. That same day Mr David Williams said he knew of a quarry, not more than a hundred yards away, where there were plenty of stones, if we could get permission to open it. That was in Young Road (now a section of Newcastle Road) between Grainger and Hill Streets on the Waratah Coal Company’s ground. A deputation interviewed the Manager, asking permission to open the quarry. Permission was freely granted, and it was decided to have a stone structure. We decided that in order to save expense we would bind ourselves one to another and that we would quarry the stones and bring them to the place free of charge. We worked hard and remained true to each other, without a hitch. I need not mention that it was a big contract for about seven or eight men.”

Clarifications

When dealing with the history of churches in Lambton, it is important not to confuse churches with similar names. For instance the Welsh Baptist Church was different to the Welsh Congregational Church, even though the the minister of the Welsh Congregationalist Church, the Rev Evan Lewis often also preached at the Welsh Baptist Church. Also the Welsh Congregationalists were different to the English Congregationalists, although they later merged in 1904.

Date of Opening

One aspect of the story of the stone Congregational church in Lambton that is slightly frustrating, is pinning down the date of opening. “The Story of Lambton” p. 84 states that “the chapel was completed and opened for worship in June 1868.” However I cannot find any evidence for this date. I have found three newspaper articles in Trove that give a bit of a timeline …

• 24 Jun 1868 – After noting that the Primitive Methodist are enlarging their building, the report notes that “the Congregationalists are about to make a similar movement, as their chapel is found to be not sufficiently commodious for the hearers.”
• 12 Nov 1868 – “The erection of the Primitive Methodist and Welsh Chapels are being proceeded with, and the work has already made considerable progress.”
• 25 Feb 1869 – “The new Welsh Church is on the eve of being completed, and will be opened for public worship ere long.”

Whereas most churches in that era, on the completion of their building held a formal opening service that was well reported in the newspaper, the Welsh Congregationalists don’t appear to have had a formal opening of their small but impressive stone building.

One thought I had in trying to pin down an opening date, was to look in Trove for reports of anniversary services in subsequent years. There were many such reports, but it turns out that the Welsh Congregationalists managed to hold anniversary services variously in the months of June, July, August, September, October, and November. To make matters even more confusing, an eighth anniversary was celebrated in 1877 implying an opening year of 1869, but a 76th anniversary was celebrated in 1944 implying an opening year of 1868.

The best sense I can make of all this is that the church construction took place mostly in 1868 (hence the stone inscription on the front of the church), but that it only began to be used in 1869, and that there was no formal or official opening ceremony.

The quarry

The stone for the church in Dickson St was obtained from a nearby quarry on Young St, now Newcastle Rd. We know that the power station for the electric light scheme instituted in 1890 was built in a disused quarry. There is no definite proof, but it seems highly likely that this was the quarry used for the church. A 1904 panorama of the Lambton taken from the top of Noble St shows the both the quarry and the church in close proximity.

A portion of a 1904 photograph that shows both the Bethel Chapel in Dickson St, and the quarry on Newcastle Rd where the stone was probably quarried from.

Rev Evan Lewis

The grave site in Sandgate Cemetery of Rev Evan Lewis, who started, and then led the Welsh Congregational Church in Lambton for 38 years, until his death in 1902.

Newspaper articles

On Christmas Day 1864, just one year after Lambton colliery began operation, the first church building in Lambton was opened. This was a small wooden Primitive Methodist chapel in Elder St, built on land generously given by Thomas Croudace, the manager of the colliery. Although belonging to the Church of England, Mr Croudace was very supportive of the establishment of churches from other denominations, and was often asked to speak at the opening celebrations. By 1892 Lambton had a total of 13 churches, coincidentally matching the number of hotels in town.

The first Church of England building wasn’t constructed until 1869. It was built on the current site on Morehead Street, and unsurprisingly Thomas Croudace was instrumental in making this happen, presiding over public meetings assisting in the raising of funds. Although originally plans were made for a stone church, this was too costly, and instead a modest wooden building was constructed for £300 and opened by Bishop William Tyrrell on 17th October 1869.

After 38 years of use the wooden building had fallen into such a state of disrepair that “one could put one’s hand through the wall, and the place rocked in the gale”. It was time for something more durable, and finances allowed for a new brick building to be constructed for £600, which was opened in October 1907. Thomas Croudace, who had been a member of the church since its inception, had passed away the previous year, and his family gifted to the new building the stained glass windows in the east wall as a memorial to him.

Over the years, churches have come and gone in Lambton, and although now numbering fewer than 13, there are still thriving church communities in Lambton today to celebrate the birth of Jesus this 25th December, just as the Primitive Methodists did in their new building in 1864.

The article above was first published in the December 2015 edition of the Lambton Local.

Churches and hotels

I mentioned in the article that in 1892 there were 13 churches, matching the number of hotels in the town. Interestingly this correlation seems to hold up fairly well through the years.

• In 1868 there were 4 hotels, and 3 churches.
• In 1892 there were 13 hotels and 13 churches
• In 2015 there are 4 hotels and 4 churches.

Churches in Lambton in 2015 are:

• St John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Dickson St
• St John the Baptist Anglican Church, 18 Morehead St
• ANeW Anglican, (also meets at 18 Morehead St)
• Hunter Bible Church, Lambton High School

Hotels in Lambton in 2015 are:

• Bar 121
• The Mark
• Northumberland Hotel
• Lambton Park Hotel

It seems I’m not the first person to be comparing hotel and church numbers in Lambton. The Rev J. T. Pepper, on the occasion of laying the foundation stone for the new Primitive Methodist church building on 13th October 1868 was recorded as saying …

“The effect of laying the foundation-stones of churches was undoubtedly better than the establishment of public-houses. He believed, if they could change every public-house into a church, they would have a wonderful alteration in the moral status of the people.”

Thomas Croudace

Thomas Croudace was quite active in supporting the establishment of other churches in Lambton. He was asked to lay the foundation stone for the new Primitive Methodist church building on 13th October 1868, and on that occasion said that

“A man in his position was bound to do as much good as he possibly could. He hoped, therefore, he should not be considered out of place by the members of other denominations. There were many different sects, but, in his opinion, they were all endeavouring to attain the same end. He could not see anything wrong in assisting any Christian denomination, especially when by so doing a person had it in his own power to set a good example to a large number of people with whom he was connected.”

Examples of Thomas Croudace’s ecumenical support include …

• 1864 – Gift of land for construction of Primitive Methodist church.
• 1868 – Presiding over public meetings for the construction of the Church of England building.
• 1869 – Presybyterian church: “When services were first begun at Lambton they were held in a carpenter’s shop, kindly lent them by Mr. Croudace.”
• 1871 – Supporting the establishment of a branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society
• 1882 – Presiding over meeting raising funds for Roman Catholic school.
• 1888 – Wesleyan Sunday School having their annual picnic in Mr. Croudace’s paddock.
• 1897 – Welsh Congregational Church picnic in Mr Croudace’s paddock.

Timeline of events

References

• List of newspaper articles concerning Lambton Primitive Methodist church.
• List of newspaper articles concerning St John the Baptist Church of England, Lambton.