The Great Staughton Baptist Chapel was built in 1871.
The foundation stone states that it was laid by Bateman Brown on the 15th August 1871 and quotes a Bible passage from Haggai 2.7 "and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts".
Great Staughton Chapel c1872
The chapel closed its doors in 1985 and for the next 15 years it was used as a warehouse, firstly for electrical goods and finally for drains.
The early history of Great Staughton Baptist Chapel is documented in Rev.J.Tebbett's book 'A Baptist History of Cambridgeshire'.
Tebbett states that the building was completed at a cost of £573.
Over the 130-year life of the chapel, several major renovations were undertaken, usually coinciding with an anniversary.
Great Staughton Chapel c1935
The interior underwent a great deal of work in 1962 including the luxury of internal toilets (the village had only just got mains sewerage).
Further major work was carried out for the building's 100th aniversary in 1972.
The picture on the right is from a postcard.
Larger versions of all the pictures of this chapel are available on the photo gallery page.
The Original Altar Backdrop c1935
Unusually for a Baptist chapel, there was a quite ornate painting on the wall behind the alter (shown on the left).
This altar backdrop was lost due to deterioration of the lime plaster.
An attempt was made to reconstruct the original decoration, but it wasn't anywhere near as high quality as the original.
