Covent Garden London
The heart of London's West End
A City not Forsaken
A new book about a prominent Covent Garden building
A History of Christian Witness in Eden Street, Gower Street and Shaftesbury Avenue by Richard Stonelake.
The inscription built into the brickwork in the front of the building (on the corner of Mercer Street and Shaftesbury Avenue) reads 'SOHO BAPTIST CHAPEL'. For years this was covered by boards inscribed 'GOWER STREET MEMORIAL CHAPEL'. Underneath in white lettering is now the name: SHAFTESBURY AVENUE CHAPEL.
The changing inscriptions on the front of the building, described in the Seven Dials Renaissance Handbook of 1996 as "Gothic with a Hanseatic flavour", hints at the fascinating history behind the Chapel and the people who worship there.
Read about the "lost" memorial stone in the schoolroom, bath-time in the caretakers' flat in the 1930s, the pawned boots redeemed by the Sunday School Superintendent, the restrictions placed on the use of the Gower Street building ("no steam engines") and many other unexpected facts unearthed during lengthy research for this absorbing book.
A5 soft back, 140 pages - £5.95 by post from the author:
Richard Stonelake,
85 Belmont Road,
Uxbridge,
Middlesex UB8 1QU
r_stonelake@hotmail.com
© Covent Garden Community Association, July 2000
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