Please note: As of early 2025, the church is being decommission. The minister retired in 2024 and the decision has been made to close the church. Therefore all signs have been taken down, and there is no identification that it was once a church.
Walton on the Naze Baptist Church is a tiny church in a residential area in northern Walton on the Naze. It was established in 1925, and has been led by Rev. Brian Jennings since 1971. It has a very small congregation.
The building was originally built in the 1880s at the same time as the cottages along Hall Lane, known as Broomfield Cottages, still to be seen adjacent to the church. It was originally built as a social centre for the residents of the cottages and was called Crescent Hall. The cottages housed the workers of the foundry (the Foundry building can still be seen further up Hall Lane), which was opened in 1873 by Robert Warner. The Foundry produced steam engines and pumping machines, amongst other things, and employed up to 200 people.
The Foundry produced munitions during the 1st World War and workers were still living in Broomfield Cottages and using Crescent Hall as a meeting hall at that time. However, in 1925 the building was converted to a Baptist Church.
The photo below shows the cottages in Hall Lane around the turn of the 20th century, with the hall (now the Baptist Church) at the far end of the row.
This multi cache is placed as part of a series of caches in Walton to celebrate RachelnRedd's 10th caching birthday.
To find the cache:
Door number of the terraced house immediately to the left of the church = AB
White number painted on the green box immediately to the right of the church = CD
The cache can be found at: N 51 51. (A/2) D (C/2)
E 01 16. (B -1) (A-7) (B+1)
The final is a short walk away and NOT accessible by car.
If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here
http://churchmicro.co.uk/
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at
http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html