Fuller Baptist Church

Summary

A Baptist chapel of 1861 to designs by Edward Sharman.

History

The historic core of Kettering centres around St Peter and St Paul church, Market Place to its north-west, and the immediate network of streets around it. Originally a Saxon village and later a market town, Kettering was for much of its history a relatively small linear settlement comprising what are now Gold Street, the High Street, Market Street, and Market Place. This core layout of medieval streets persists today, though the majority of the surviving buildings date from the C19 and early C20. Kettering was at the convergence of several important routes and benefited from this and from the wool industry, but it was the arrival in 1857 of the Midland Railway which enabled larger industries, particularly the boot and shoe-making industry, to expand the town significantly beyond its historic core. The wider town is still characterised by numerous former factories and associated terraced housing.

The site of Fuller Baptist Church has been developed since at least the C16. Buildings probably existed on this site from the early days of the Saxon settlement. Maps from the 1720s show this area of Gold Street densely occupied, with some buildings extending to the rear on long narrow plots.

In 1769 the first Baptist church was erected on this site, in a complex that also comprised: school rooms, a burial ground (which survives to the north-east of the church), a house and garden for the minister and four cottages. The C18 church was enlarged in 1805. The Reverend Andrew Fuller, after whom the church was named, was pastor from 1783 to his death in 1815 and was buried in the adjacent burial ground. He was a noted theologian and missionary and was friends with William Carey, another nonconformist minister with connections to Kettering. He helped Carey found the Baptist Missionary Society. In 1861 the previous church was demolished and the current one built to replace it, to the designs of Edward Sharman. The first 25” OS map of Kettering (surveyed in 1884) shows that the completed church building also had a narrower lateral wing which extended east from the rear wall.

By 1924 an extension and a small porch had been added to the south side of the lateral rear wing (behind 59-65 Gold Street), opening into the lane to the east of the church. By the same date, a small extension had been built to the north of the lateral wing, projecting into the burial ground. Since 1968 the northern extension has been replaced by a new block. The associated Sunday School to the west of the chapel was demolished sometime after 1968.

Details

A Baptist chapel of 1861 to designs by Edward Sharman.

MATERIALS: dressed limestone decorated with coloured terracotta tiles to the principal (south) elevation. Flanking elevations are of yellow stock bricks on an ironstone rubblestone plinth, with limestone dressings. Windows with stained glass detail feature on all elevations. The church has a pitched slate roof.

PLAN: the chapel is rectangular on plan facing south onto Gold Street. A lateral range to the rear runs roughly west to east.

EXTERIOR: the building is of three storeys, with a pitched roof. A small cylindrical spirelet with a cone-shaped roof rises from a square plinth at the centre of the ridge of the roof. The principal (south) elevation has a three-bay projecting porch with round arches supported on chamfered square columns flanked by colonnettes. The arches are embellished with coloured tiles with a diamond motif. Within the porch, more coloured tiles highlight three round arches, surrounding panelled timber doors to left and right, and a stained glass window to the centre. A moulded plat band formed of decorated terracotta tiles divides the ground and first-floor storeys. The first floor has a group of four round-headed windows divided by paired colonnettes and ornamented with keystones beneath a frieze of coloured tiles. The windows are embellished with coloured glass. The third storey forms a triangular pediment. A central round window with carved embellishments occupies the centre of the pediment.

The east and west elevations are of yellow stock brick on an ironstone rubblestone plinth topped with a limestone moulding, with moulded ‘special’ bricks adorning the windows. There are five bays, separated by stepped brick pilasters. At ground floor, there is one window in each bay, topped with segmental arches with ogee-moulded bricks above and toothed brick detail below. The windows are each in two panes ornamented with stained glass. At first floor level, each bay has a pair of round-arched windows, again in two panes ornamented with stained glass.

The early-C20 extension to the east at the rear is of two storeys in yellow stock brick in an arts and crafts style. Its windows have segmental arches with ogee mouldings, mirroring the church building. The windows have substantial timber mullions and transoms and simple leaded lights. The west elevation facing the access lane has two bays, with three-over-three and one-over-one windows. The south elevation has two bays each with three-over-three windows.

INTERIOR: The previous list description (dated 21 November 1974) described a three-sided gallery with panelled fronts supported on iron pillars. The ceiling with coved sides is divided into rectangular panels, raised up centre also coved and panelled with tie beams across beneath it. Mahogany fittings. It is also understood that the church contains a stained glass medallion of Andrew Fuller.

Listing NGR: SP8674078872

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

230079

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Northampton Historic Environment records 7198/271/1, accessed 19 February 2021 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?resourceID=1044&uid=MNN106872
Local history information about the Rev Andrew Fuller, accessed 19 February 2021 from http://www.townsontheweb.com/northamptonshire/kettering/local_visiting_history.htm

Other
Map of Kettering c. 1720, accessed 16 February 2021 at [http://britishlibrary.georeferencer.com/maps/a6b9887c-b961-47b1-8460-899d17408fc3/]
OS 25” Northamptonshire XXV.10 (Kettering; Rothwell; Weekley) (surveyed 1884, published 1887)
OS 25” Northamptonshire XXV.10 (Kettering; Rothwell; Weekley) (revised 1924, published 1926)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

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