CAPEL HISTORY TRAIL
No. 13 - Congregational Church & School
In the 1860s it was considered by the Congregational Church Authorities in Tunbridge Wells that there was a very urgent need 'for the erection in this hamlet of a suitable and commodious building for the preaching of the gospel and the instruction of the young.'
In May 1869 a foundation stone was laid for the new Congregational building and school. The site, on land adjacent to the railway, was secured for £40 and the building costs were around £300 (a total of about £53,000 in today's values).When completed the building had two storeys, the lower used as a boys' school with the upper as a girls' school together with a preaching room, 'each amply commodious for the purpose'.
Between 1872 and 1874 attendance was regularly in excess of 100 in the Sunday School. In the early years of the Twentieth century, the Congregational Church numbers were such that it outgrew Bridge Hall and, under the leadership of Reverend Holman (who also donated the land that we now have for Five Oak Green recreation ground) moved to a site in Badsell Road in 1910 and now known as the United Church.
Bridge Hall then became a public hall and was for many years the centre of organised events and social life in the village used variously by the Royal British Legion, the Women's Institute and for dances and whist drives to raise funds for local groups such as Capel Football Club, Capel Tennis Club and Capel Cricket Club and charitable causes. The local press between the Wars abounds with mentions of Bridge Hall events such as the two examples below:
Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser - Friday 19 October 1934
FIVE OAK GREEN - WHIST DRIVE: On Wednesday the Capel Hospital Committee held a whist drive in the Bridge Hall in aid of the Gresford miners' distress fund. [a tragic explosion at a North Wales mine had killed 266 miners in the previous month]
Kent & Sussex Courier - Friday 20 December 1935
CAPEL WOMEN'S INSTITUTE - A meeting of the Women's Institute was held in the Bridge Hall on Wednesday evening. Mrs. W. H. W. Smith presided and Miss Adamson gave a demonstration of 'Odd Jobbing.' A nativity play was given by members and friends and the Rev. H. Capel thanked them for their effort, which he described as being "very realistic".
In the photograph above, you can look down the road to the left to see the development of the shop (now the Hoppers' veterinary practice).