The chapel itself is a registered "Historic Building Grade II".
The congregation dates back to 1662 when Rev. Thomas Leadbetter was
'ejected' from the local parish church under the Act of Uniformity for
failing to use the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Services were held
illegally until 1672 when "toleration" allowed a private house to
be registered for worship.
By 1722 a parcel of land on the edge of Hinckley had been bought and
the current chapel erected, surrounded by gardens and orchards on 3 sides.
The building was also an academy for students to the ministry and the famous Rev. Dr. Phillip Doddridge was a student and preached his first sermon
here in 1722.
The building contains many historic treasures, including an egg-cup pulpit
which was brought from the parsonage in 1722. The gallery dating from 1727
still has its original layout of box pews and the roof of the chapel is
supported by two solid oak columns made out of whole tree trunks. The organ
was installed at the end of the 19th century. The floor to ceiling wall
hangings either side of the pulpit date from 1902 and were embroidered by
members of the congregation.
Members of the congregation also helped to found the local hospital, library,
Co-operative Society, Building Society and Museum. The chapel has and always
will be an oasis of liberal religion, and a Hindu and a Buddhist conducted
services here in 1906.
Joseph Dare has connections with both the town and the chapel having grown up and
married in Hinckley, and run a boys' school in the chapel.
He went on to have a profound effect on
housing and health in Victorian Leicester and is buried in
Welford Road Cemetery.
Further historical and architectural information about Hinckley Great Meeting can be found in the
"G" section of Hinckley Netfirms website; the history and architecture of
Hinckley buildings can be found on the main web site.
There are services each Sunday at 11 a.m. & 6 p.m. and a meditation service at 1 pm. on the last Friday of the month. There is a Childrens' club Sunday mornings at 11 a.m. when required.
The chapel is also available for customised marriages,
same-sex blessings, funerals,
namings and other celebrations. Please contact one of the numbers list below if
you wish to arrange a celebration.
We have in the past few years celebrated the blessing of a
civil marriage between two Hindus, a Hindu funeral, and marriages between local
people and their partners from Indonesia and Afghanistan.
"I would like to say a big thank-you to you for making Riley's christening such a special one; lots of our guests commented on your service and just how perfect it was in every way."
"Thank you for the very special personal approach you brought to the funeral service. It meant a lot to me and there was some very 'positive feedback' from relatives and friends. 'What a lovely service', and 'it was very moving' were a few quotes.
Our chapel and denomination has a tradition of creating ceremonies for divorcees, and open/mixed marriages, one of our previous ministers having been a member of the Hibbert Trust working party on "Rites of Passage".
We pride ourselves on responding to spiritual
needs as they occur in the past; we have run "Building your own Theology" courses to help people
discover their own religious identity, and courses on conducting worship. We are
currently running a monthly discussion course on spiritual issues.
Minister: Rev. Chris Goacher B.A.
Chairman:
Treasurer:
Secretary & Newsletter Editor:
Social Secretary: Gordon Turner
Publicity Officer and Webmaster:
Our chapel's favourite charities
Chapel Diary - what have we been doing recently
Chapel Photo Album - pictures of chapel events (on-going)
This site is listed in the British Towns and Villages Encyclopaedia of Great Britain and we can be found in the entry for Hinckley