Three Oaks is in the parish of Guestling in the north of Sussex. When Rev. H.W. Lillington of Tenterden completed the return for this building for the 1851 Religious Census he noted that it occupied part of an old building, from before 1800, but wasn’t exclsuively used for religious purposes. He also estimated the evening congregation as being between 30 and 40.
A photograph of a chapel at Three Oaks taken by Keith Guyler in 1987 may be found on the British Methodist Buildings website Mr Guyler notes that that chapel was built in 1866. It appears from later surveys of Methodist accommodation that it could accommodate 70 in 1940, but only 48 thirty years later. The chapel has since closed.
Any further information on the life of this Bible Christian cause would be welcomed.
Sources
The National Archives. H.O.129/76/5
Statistical returns … as at July 1st 1940. Manchester: Methodist Church, Department of Chapel Affairs, 1947
Statistical returns 1970. Manchester: Methodist Church, Department of Chapel Affairs, 1972
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Taken from the Centenary Celebration in 1967:-
“Our Methodist Chapel at Three Oaks owes its origin to the fervent enterprise of the Bible Christians, a denomination which 100 years ago was practically unknown in this part of England. In the southwest, however, particularly among the hardy and virile Cornish fisher folk, it was of considerable strength. In 1848 a Coast Guard named Matthews was transferred from Cornwall to the Coast Guard station at Cliff End, Pett, and being a keen Bible Christian he soon began to hold services in a house at Pett. Shortly afterwards the Chapel at Pett was built and opened for worship, and in 1855 the existing Wesleyan Chapel, built at Icklesham by the Rye circuit, was purchased and became Bible Christian. In the years that followed the group increased to four by the building of two more chapels, one at Three Oaks and one at Westfield.
It is now 100 years ago that the Chapel at Three Oaks was built on a small plot of land given for the nominal sum of £1 by the local landowner, when almost every inch of the land had to be used. Without more land no extension of any sort was possible, but very recently it became possible to acquire an adjoining plot and with the addition in 1966 of a vestibule, classroom and other facilities, the Chapel now occupies in the village a position worthy of its name and purpose.
EARLY DAYS. We know little of the chapel’s early history, but it was a momentous day for Three Oaks when, near the turn of the century, the late Mr Henry Harborough came to settle in the district by establishing his nurseries at Guestling Thorn. As a Congregationalist he began to attend the Robertson Street church in Hastings, but finding the long journeys irksome, and observing the need and opportunities for service near at hand in the Chapel here, he threw in his lot with the Bible Christians, and under his influence and financial support great progress was made, the results of which are still apparent.
TWO UNIONS. In 1907 the Bible Christians amalgamated with the Methodist New Connexion to become the United Methodist Church, of which this group of chapels became a circuit. Although their minister was stationed at Pett, it is interesting to note that in all circuit affairs the chapels were regarded as of equal status. Naturally this small, isolated outpost of United Methodism welcomed from the adjoining Hastings Wesleyan Circuit all the friendship and support it could give, and the late Mr F S Hammond who was himself born at Pett, and attended the Chapel as a boy, was one of the Hastings local preachers who readily offered his services and encouraged others to join him. Thus in both the pulpits and the pews a warm fellowship developed between the two circuits, so that when in 1932 Methodist Union took place it brought no problems, for the amalgamation of the two circuits as part of the joining of the Wesleyan, Primitive and United Methodist churches consummated the unity which had already existed.
RECENT TIMES. From 1932 to 1967, its centenary year, the Chapel at Three Oaks has continued its witness in the village as a sturdy and loyal unit of the Hastings circuit, providing Methodist services and a Sunday school week by week in a community who have no other place of worship within a considerable distance.
As is so often the case in village methodism, this has only been achieved because of the unswerving loyalty and devotion of its small membership, and this short historical account would not be complete without a further reference to the Harborough family, now represented by Mr and Miss Furminger, and also the Ballard family. These two families, for three generations, have given devoted and sacrificial service to the Chapel. A great debt is due to them and to those who have supported them. ~ C F Hammond”
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