This cache has been placed to bring you to Providence Baptist Chapel in Blunham.
In around 1840 a number of members of the Old Baptist Meeting, Blunham, felt that they had to leave the church after a disagreement on doctrine. They continued to meet in an old barn until Mr. Robert Judd, draper, grocer and owner of the village general store, gave some of his land at the back of his house for a new chapel to be built. The chapel was finished in 1842.
The building remained as originally built until in 1966/67 the old cottages that stood at the side of the chapel (known as 'The Snicket') were purchased from a Mr. B. Spavins at a cost of £1000, and demolished to form a car park. Mains water was also laid on to the old vestry. Prior to this, the only supply of water was from the hand pump in 'the snicket'. (It is interesting to note that as the chapel had a baptistry when built, a special arrangement was made to fill it. One of the down-pipes from the roof gutters was channelled to the baptistry, so that it was filled with rainwater. There was also an overflow to prevent the chapel from flooding!) Heating was provided by a tortoise stove in the middle of the chapel. This was a free-standing cast iron cylindrical device about a foot in diameter and 3ft tall with a flue pipe passing up through the roof.
In 1970, the original high small box pulpit was removed, and replaced with the rostrum style pulpit which came from Salem Chapel, Chatteris which had closed. The original box pews was all removed from the ground floor of the chapel and replaced with pews originally from Providence Chapel, Oakham, Leicestershire. (J.C. Philpot's Chapel). The Chapel was completely redecorated at a cost of £216.00.
In the early 1980's the original vestry was demolished and a new extension built which included toilet facilities as well as the vestry. Prior to this, the only toilet was a privy to the rear of the chapel complete with wooden seat and slop bucket.
In 1989 the Chapel was completely redecorated inside and out at a cost of £2,101.87. A damp course was put in on the road side wall in 1991 at a cost of £555.54. More work was done on the building in 1995 when all the windows were replaced at a cost of £3,055.
In 2001 a new public address sound system was purchased and fitted. This included fitting an induction loop system for the benefit of the hard of hearing. A CD recorder was added in 2006 and used to make regular recordings of the services.
To find the cache you need to go to the cache page co-ords. Sunday school is at A:BC am while sunday evening service is at D:EF pm
The cache can be found at N52 08. (A-1)(B)(C+B) W000 19. (D+1)(E+1)(F)
Check sum of all the digits = 47
Good Luck!
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