Trinity Baptist Church - Treasure Trail
Introduction:
Welcome to Trinity Baptist Church building. In keeping with the dissenting history of Chesham, a Baptist congregation has worshipped on or near this same plot of land for at least 300 years. Baptist preachers (some ex-soldiers from Cromwell’s army) were in this area, during the Civil War (1640s), gathering small groups of Christians to worship in people’s homes. All of which should remind us that ‘church’ is a group of people not a building. A house was registered for worship nearby in 1701.
This treasure trail gives you a chance to explore a fine and typical example of a Nonconformist building from the 19th Century. It should not only serve to give you a glimpse into a byegone age, even beyond the age of the current building. At the same time this trail should give some understanding about Britain’s Christian heritage and the current situation in our world, where the largest proportion of Christians now live in the Two-Thirds World.
NOTE: Wheelchair access - All of this trail is accessible to people in wheelchairs, as a lift has been installed at the front of the central corridor of our building. However, distance travelled to keep with the trail is unavoidably further. A mobile ramp (stored near the foot of the central stairs) should enable access to the upstairs balcony of the worship area from the upstairs central corridor.
Please follow the instructions in italics at the end of each section to follow the trail.
Trinity Baptist Church - Treasure Trail
1) Outside the front of the building
- When was the current church building erected and who was on the throne at that time?
- What surname is featured on one of the foundation stones, which also happens to be a town in north Buckinghamshire?
- Notice anything else of interest?
(Walk up Punch Bowl Lane alongside the church building. Turn in through the black iron gates, just before the public footpath running between the church car park and garden)
2) Outside the rear of the building in the church garden
- Can you list the names that appear on some of the bricks in the back wall?
- What year is shown and what is the difference between this and the year when the church building was erected?
- Can you explain the discrepancy between the two dates?
(Go up the fire escape from the church garden and enter the building at the rear. Follow the upstairs corridor and go through the first doors on the right. Ignoring the stairs, go through the next set of double doors into the upstairs hall)
3) Upstairs hall
- Who is the hall named after?
- Who was this person in relation to the church (and to the town?).
- Can you see any clues as to which community groups regularly use the hall?
(Go out of the other single door and go across the upstairs corridor into the balcony of the worship area of the church building. Walk around the balcony towards the church organ and progress all the way round back to the door you entered, being careful of the steps down to and up from the organ)
4) Balcony of the worship area
- What are the dates on the two plaques near the organ?
- Who is commemorated for having been organist and choirmaster for nearly 50 years?
- What are some of the feelings you have as you walk around the balcony - as well as vertigo? (Note the original gas lights above the gallery and elsewhere in the church).
(Come out of the worship area the same way you came in and go through the double doors off the upstairs corridor again, this time taking the stairs down to the ground floor. At the bottom of the stairs, go through door straight ahead into a small room)
5) Stairs and small room
- (Stairs) - Which of the names on the memorials at the bottom of the stairs matches one of the names carved into the bricks on the back wall of the church?
- (Room) - Traditionally called ‘The Pole Room’ for obvious reasons, who is this room named after now?
- Who was this person in relation to the church and the community?
- Are there any clues as to some of the community groups currently use this room?
(Come out of the small room via the other door to the corridor and cross the corridor and go into the foyer at the front of the church building)
6) Foyer
- What year was the church re-named ‘Trinity Baptist Church’?
- Which other congregation joined with this church to become ‘Trinity’ (and where did they meet to worship?).
- What year did Trinity become a Fairtrade church? Anything else that you notice?
(Go through the left-hand door into the downstairs worship area and wander round, progressing to the other door to re-enter the foyer & exit)
7) Worship area (downstairs)
- From one of the pew-end memorials, who was on the stage and when did they come to faith at Trinity?
- Note the names on the various war memorials and other memorials. Are there any names here which appear on the back wall of the church building?
- Notice the design on the pulpits and the banner produced by the children of Trinity’s ‘Junior Church’.
- Where is the church’s ‘baptistery’ where people get wet in order to declare that they have decided to follow Jesus? (Clue: if you are standing on the platform, the baptistery is right under your nose!)
- What is the saying of Jesus from the Bible which is displayed over the downstairs worship area?
Please help yourself to the ‘treasure’ at the end of this treasure trail, which should be on the church offering plate on the table at the front of the church. We hope you enjoyed your visit to Trinity and would like to finish this Treasure Trail by encouraging you to visit again. Come and use the church building for a community event, birthday party etc. You could even come and join us for worship on a Sunday morning (10.45am).
Jesus said, ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’.
By Rev Colin Cartwright (May 2010)
Trinity Treasure Trail - Responses page
1) Outside Front
2) Outside Rear
3) Upstairs Hall
4) Balcony of the Worship Area
5) Small room downstairs
6) Foyer
7) Worship Area Downstairs