OLD DEVONPORT . UK
www.olddevonport.uk
 

ANGLICAN CHURCH OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE

MISSION HALL

A mission hall in connection with the Anglican Church of Saint Paul the Apostle was erected in Cornwall Street and opened on Thursday October 11th 1883.

Known as the Town Mission Hall it was designed in the plain Gothic style by Mr Luff and erected by Mr John Martin, of Devonport, under the supervision of a Mr Westaway.  Construction was completed within three months.

The commodious and lofty building measured 50 feet in length by 30 feet in width and was some 15 feet high.  It was entered through a 7 foot square porch and the Hall was heated by two large fireplaces.  There were ten large, opening windows, and ventilated by roof tile ventilators.  Accommodation in the form of varnished pitchpine benches was provided for 300 people and there was a small raised platform at the end opposite the entrance.  The cost amounted to under £500, most of which had already been subscribed, and a bazaar and fancy fair recently held in the grounds of Cottage by Sir William and Lady Hamilton, had contributed a substantial amount to the fund.

At 6.30pm a public tea was held and nearly 300 people attended.  Lady and the Misses Hamilton, Mrs and Miss Read, Mrs Luff, the Misses Scott, the Misses Slade, and the Misses Carlyon, took charge of the tables.  After the tea a public meeting was held, which nearly filled the hall.  The Vicar of Saint Paul's Church, the Reverend E Read, presided.  A former Vicar of the Parish, the Reverend Orlando Manley, now at Dawlish, said that a boys and youths association would soon be started for instruction and mutual improvement.  'Clergy working in thickly-populated parishes like Saint Paul's required a great deal of sympathy and encouragement if they were not to break down under their labours, said the Reverend Manley, 'and the successful undertaking they were inaugurating that evening shewed (sic) that they in that parish were giving their vicar every sympathy and encouragement in his work amongst them'.  Mr J J E Venning also spoke and several hymns were sung.

By the 1950s the Hall was being used as a Sunday School.