Nonconformist Chapels in North Kesteven Summary A survey of nonconformist chapels in the North Kesteven District of Lincolnshire was carried out from January to March 2009 to expand the survey of nonconformist chapels in Lincolnshire following previous surveys of Lincoln Borough, West Lindsey District and the Boston Borough. There were found to be 91 surviving current and former nonconformist places of worship in North Kesteven. Sixty six of these are indicated on, and were identified from, the 1905 OS County Series 1:2500 maps, 1 from a 1932 OS County Series Map and the remainder were identified from other documentary sources and from observation in the field. A further 28 former nonconformist chapels were identified from the County Series maps but found, on site visit, to no longer survive. The former existence of other places of nonconformist worship in the District was identified from other documentary sources. Some of these buildings were superceded by later structures on the same, or on different, sites. Some sources refer to former chapels, or private houses where nonconformist meetings were held, but whose sites are now lost and others refer only to the issuing of nonconformist licenses. Almost all of the surviving buildings were found within settlements and, as found in the other areas surveyed, the majority of them were constructed in the middle and latter part of the nineteenth century. Most of the chapels constructed before the late nineteenth century are, with a few exceptions, plain, modest structures. The degree of elaboration and decoration increases in the late nineteenth century. The buildings from the late 1860s and 70s predominantly have round-headed openings but by the end of the nineteenth century and in the early twentieth century the predominant style is pointed. Some groups of buildings with markedly similar features were found in this District suggesting the use of standardised designs. There were however, some notable early buildings in North Kesteven such as the Friends Meeting House in Brant Broughton (survey number 63028) dating from 1701, which survives intact and retains its internal fittings, and the Meeting House of 1776 associated with the Countess of Huntingdon Connexion in Sleaford which, though it has been divided and converted to residential use, retains some internal features and appears to be previously unrecorded (survey number 65623). The Wesleyan chapel in North Scarle which opened in 1800 is the earliest surviving Methodist building in the District (survey number 65617). Wesleyan chapels were the most numerous, comprising 55 percent of the total number of chapels, with Primitive Methodist chapels 20 percent. A greater proportion of Wesleyan chapels that were in existence in 1905 survive to the present day than those of other denominations whilst chapels belonging to the various Methodist Reform groups were the most likely to have disappeared. Twenty-nine percent of the surviving buildings are still in use as a place of worship and forty-nine percent have been converted to residential use. As found in the areas already surveyed, conversion to alternative use is the most frequent and important cause of loss of original features and historic fabric. Introduction This survey of North Kesteven was carried out as part of a continuing evaluation and recording of the state of preservation of nonconformist places of worship in Lincolnshire. They are monuments of considerable importance for the understanding of the social and religious history of the District and they form an integral part of the historic environment of its settlements, landscape and communities. North Kesteven District lies to the south of Lincoln and includes the small market town of Sleaford. Its economy is primarily agricultural but it is geographically diverse. It is divided east to west by the limestone escarpment known as the Lincoln Cliff and most of the associated village settlements are sited on, or below, the spring line. The easternmost part of the district occupies the broad flat valley of the River Witham and the edges of the fenland, and the westernmost edge lies in the claylands of the valley of the Upper Witham. The central part of the district is characterised by an area of upland, known as the Lincoln Heath, where the agriculture is based on scattered farms. The influence of the particular geographical circumstances and the social structure of the associated communities could be expected to have an impact upon the provision and nature of nonconformist places of worship. The heathland was dominated by the major landlords and included some tightly controlled estate villages. In contrast fenland areas were usually more loosely controlled and were characterised by large and scattered communities of freeholders from Medieval times, though some parishes extended over areas of both type. The historical background to the development of nonconformism in the area encompasses a period of economic and social change due to changes in agricultural practice. This could be expected to have a significant impact on the development of dissenting religion and in particular on the building of chapels which was dependent on the availability of land and financial resources. Methodology As in the previous surveys a desk-based assessment was followed by a rapid field survey of the exterior of surviving chapels. The desk based assessment used the same published documentary sources and maps used in the previous surveys with the addition of some sources specific to North Kesteven District. The recording process involved a rapid survey of extant buildings during which digital images were taken of the exterior of surviving buildings for the compilation of a photographic archive. A record of surviving historic fabric and features, present use, dating evidence and state of preservation for each building was made using the survey form in the field and the presence of associated buildings or burial grounds was recorded. The data were subsequently transferred to the Historic Buildings Sites and Monuments Record. Clear references to nonconformist places of worship which no longer survive were also added to the Historic Buildings Sites and Monuments Record along with their sites where these could be established. References to demolished buildings which were replaced by new chapels on the same site were included in the records of the later building. This report largely follows the format of the earlier reports of West Lindsey and The Boston Borough to facilitate subsequent comparison of the evidence from these areas and any future areas surveyed. Denomination Dissenter Groups At the time of the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 there were 13 places where nonconformist churches or ministers were licensed in North Kesteven. Five were Presbyterian: Bloxholm, the linked sites of Blankney and Leasingham, and two at Swinderby. Leasingham had 1 of only 3 Independent Congregationalist licenses for the whole of Lincolnshire and 7 Baptist licenses existed: one for Bassingham linked with one for Carlton-le-Moorland, a further two for Carlton-le-Moorland, one for South Hykeham and two for Brant Broughton and Stragglethorpe (Ambler 2000, Fig 2). A congregation of Dissenters also existed prior to 1692 in Sleaford where they met in a chapel which stood in the garden of a house in Southgate. It ceased to be used as a chapel when the minister died in 1732 and was demolished in 1773 (Fawcett 1902, p.4). Compared with other counties Lincolnshire, in the early eighteenth century, had a high number of Baptist groups but the lowest proportion of Presbyterians, and a lower than average number of Quakers, as a proportion of the population (Ambler 2000 p.89). At that time dissenting meetings clustered in certain areas. In the south of the county they tended to be associated with fen-edge villages and in villages to the south west of Lincoln in the area where the dissenting groups were found in the seventeenth century. Quaker groups existed in Welbourn and Waddington in addition to the group already established in Brant Broughton. A Presbyterian presence existed in Coleby and at Burton Pedwardine. Baptist groups were found at Metheringham, Timberland and Sleaford, in addition to those continuing in Brant Broughton, Carlton-le- Moorland and South Hykeham, and undefined groups existed in Leasingham and Billinghay parishes. However at the beginning of the eighteenth century most Lincolnshire dissenting congregations still met in temporary premises (Ambler 2000, p.89). By the time of the Census of Religious Returns of 1851 dissenting communities in Lincolnshire continued to be found in the same areas as in the eighteenth century though the types of the dissenting churches had often changed. Presbyterian groups had almost disappeared though were sometimes replaced by Unitarians and there were only 9 Quaker Meeting Houses. However, in Kesteven, Baptist groups had strengthened in some villages in the east of Kesteven and the fens and there was a large increase in Independent groups (Ambler 2000, p.86). At the time of the 1851 Census, in North Kesteven, undefined Baptist groups were found in Waddington and Helpringham and Particular Baptists were found in Billinghay, Carlton-le-Moorland and Heckington. Calvinist chapels were recorded at Sleaford and in the parish of Evedon and Ewerby, Quaker Meeting Houses were recorded at Waddington and Brant Broughton, and Congregational or Independent chapels at Helpringham and Sleaford. Only a small number of dissenting buildings appear to survive though these groups often met in temporary premises and sometimes documentary evidence reveals that declining membership led to the abandonment of chapels such as the Baptist chapel which existed in Waddington, but which had become “very dilapidated” and was sold in the late nineteenth century with the proceeds being used to expand the Lincoln Mint Street premises (Ambler 2000, p.124). There is only one surviving Friends Meeting House in the district, at Brant Broughton. It dates from around 1700, though the associated burial ground was used from 1673.