West Cliff Baptist Church is in Westbourne, Bournemouth.
In the 1870s a group of Baptists met in Westbourne, formed a covenant and, in 1879, built the first Baptist Tabernacle Chapel - along with Westbourne's British School - in Seamoor Lane. The founding Minister was the Rev Robert Colman (1845-1924) a Londoner who, having married Sophia Allen (1853-1934) at Richmond in 1874, had recently moved from Surrey to Kinson and started a family. She was the sister of John Joseph Allen (1857-1914) who had begun to make his fortune as a furniture manufacture with his famous department stores and catalogues.
J J Allen had begun building his factory and warehouses on the south side of Poole Road in the 1870s and twenty years later occupied an adjacent house, Dene Thorpe, near the corner of Grosvenor Road. Having outgrown the small chapel in Seamoor Lane, the foundation stone of a much larger Baptist Tabernacle was laid on the corner of Grosvenor Road in 1890. Mr J J Allen gave help in every way with the construction and the present building opened in 1891.
To quote from Bright's Guide of 1896: "The exterior of the Church is faced with stone dressings. The interior is spacious, with wooden columns at each side to support the roof. The woodwork being left without staining or painting, gives a very nice effect. There are galleries at both ends of the Church, they are behind the pulpit, being used for the organ and choir. The sitting accommodation provides for about 650. The school adjoining is a spacious building, conveniently arranged with classrooms round."
The school originally had seperate entrances for girls and boys (currently blocked off). The Amercian squeezebox organ, which had been brought from the old Tabernacle, being inadequate a new pipe organ was installed in 1893. From 1908 onwards, the Tabernacle became known as West Cliff Baptist Church. The congregation's centenary, in 1979, was marked by the extension of the dias and the installation of a larger baptistry for total immersions. The church also includes a memorial tablet to the Rev Robert Colman and a window in his memory.
In 1994 the complex was listed Grade II with the following description: "Baptist church, school and hall. 1891. Red brick with stone window tracery. Tiled gabled roofs."
Mr King was the Baptist Church Treasurer from ABCD - EFGH.
Number of letters in the fourth word of the sixth line = I
The cache can be found at:
N50 4D.I(H-A)(F/D)
W001 5(C-H).BA(C-E)
CheckSum = 46
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
***FTF*** Congratulations Dabtec
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