Robert Ladd on

finding a new user for a

redundant historic chapel

ROOK LANE CHAPEL,

FROME

Somerset has had a long tradition of

dissent and non-conformity for it was the

townspeople of Taunton and Bridgwater

who flocked to Monmouth’s rag bag

army in 1685 and who paid dearly for

their insurrection in the bloody years that

followed.

Monmouth passed through Frome in

his bid to reach and occupy Bristol. The

town was rich from woollen weaving and

the population would then have

worshipped at St John’s parish church,

which has a spire, a rarity in Somerset.

The accession of William and Mary

brought the Act of Toleration in 1689

and the early 1700s saw the construction

of several chapels in Frome, including

Rook Lane in 1707. It was built by James

Pope to a design that displays all the

architectural confusion of its historical

context. While it is classical in overall

concept, it has many 17th century

elements such as its roof construction

which is supported on two massive stone

columns.

The original roof was hipped on four

sides and had hidden valleys with the low

point of each located above the columns.

These became clogged with leaves and

debris and probably contributed to the

deterioration at the column heads. This

has meant that there have been a

succession of repairs and alterations over

at least two centuries.

The stone columns originally

supported a domed ceiling — altered in

the middle of the 19th century to a flat

plaster ceiling. Although there is

photographic evidence of the later

ceiling, there was enough archaeological

evidence in the arched timber structure to

allow the dome to be rebuilt with

accuracy.

The chapel was made of relatively

poor materials, put together in a cavalier

fashion requiring sporadic periods of

maintenance, notably in the 1850s when

a schoolroom was added at the rear, a

new gallery installed and cast iron

replacement windows put in.

There were a thousand ‘hearers’ in the

congregation in 1717, but there was a

gradual decline as other chapels opened.

In 1933, the pastor’s salary was reduced

by £20 to £205 and in 1965 came an

inevitable union with the Zion Chapel.

Rook Lane closed in 1968.

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