
doi: 10.5284/1104097
Border Archaeology Ltd (BA) has been instructed to undertake a programme of Archaeological Standing Building Recording (ASBR) to Historic England/RCHME Level 2 of The Old Chapel Park Road Stevington Bedfordshire MK43 7QG (NGR SP 99170 53120). This programme of ASBR is required in connection with a change of use from B1/A1 to residential (C3) (Bedford Borough Council Planning Ref. 19/02530/FUL). Recording will reflect Historic England/RCHME guidance and will be undertaken in accordance with standards set by the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA), namely, Standard and guidance for the archaeological investigation and recording of standing buildings or structures (CIfA 2020a Section 3.3, 11-13) and Standard and guidance for the creation, compilation, transfer and deposition of archaeological archives (CIfA 2020b). BA also adheres to the CIfA Code of conduct: Professional ethics in archaeology (2021) and to project management advice set out in Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment: The MoRPHE Project Managers' Guide (Lee 2015). The programme of ASBR to Historic England/RCHME Level 2 of The Old Chapel Park Road Stevington has reached the following conclusions, which are detailed below. The building comprises a single-storey former Primitive Methodist Chapel of 1863 located on the S side of Park Road. The Old Chapel remains unlisted despite an application for Grade II listing submitted by Historic England but rejected in 2020. It is, however, considered to constitute a non-designated heritage asset and is recorded in the Bedfordshire Historic Environment Record. It is a rectangular gabled structure, aligned NNE-SSW, of brick construction laid in Flemish bond with a pitched slate roof. Cracks within the exterior and interior walls are apparent. The Park Road gable is in yellow brick with central doorway beneath an Italian gothic surround of alternating red and yellow brick, either side of which is a round-arched sash window with alternating red and yellow brick quoins to the arch. Above the doorway is a roundel identifying the building as a Primitive Methodist Chapel 1863, and at the eaves is a cogged brick cornice in yellow brick between contrasting bands of red. The side elevations are four bays long in red brick and each has four arched sashed windows with alternating red and yellow brick quoins to the arches. Three later timber buttresses have been tied into the E wall. The rear elevation is in yellow brick and contains two small segmental-headed windows, and an ancillary gabled structure lower than the rest of the chapel. This contemporary extension (likely to have been built as the vestry) is in yellow brick and contains a chimney at the furthest end and sash windows in its side elevations. An exterior door in its W wall acts as a second entrance. A lean-to structure at the rear is in red brick with yellow quoins and has a pitched slate roof. A single casement window in its rear elevation and a door in its E wall make up its fenestration. The Chapel is bounded by a narrow garden on all sides, and has a low brick wall along its N boundary with railings and a central wrought iron gate. Inset on both sides of the gate are five stone name plaques, likely identifying those who contributed towards the Chapels construction. This narrow plot appears to reflect the historic boundary of the building (Fig. 5) and there is no apparent evidence for the adjacent areas being used for inhumations. Internally, the building comprises two compartments, the larger of the two representing the former Chapel to the rear of which is a smaller vestry/office. The main compartment has a suspended planked floor and the internal whitewashed brickwork form three distinct panels separated by courses of unpainted red brick at the height of the window sills and arches.
Archaeology, Grey Literature
Archaeology, Grey Literature
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