NONCONFORMITY.

Although no dissenters were reported in 1676, (fn. 17) in 1728 the parish had seven Independents and two Baptists. (fn. 18) Houses were registered for Protestant worship in 1807 and 1831. (fn. 19) In 1851 the Fulbourn Independents maintained a preaching station, attended by 40 people, (fn. 20) which, styled an Independent chapel, probably survived into the early 1870s. (fn. 21)

Also c. 1850 the notable Baptist preacher, C. H. Spurgeon, gave his first sermon in a small cottage in Teversham. (fn. 22) In 1858 a new Baptist chapel was built on the high street, the cottage's site being later sold to pay for enlarging it. (fn. 23) It was probably the only meeting house in the village in 1873, though still unregistered in 1885. It had then 28 adherents, some also going to church, and 20 in 1897. (fn. 24) In 1921 it had a Sunday school. (fn. 25) The chapel, which in the 20th century usually had 10-15 full members, seated c. 100 people, and was commonly served from Cherry Hinton, although in 1937 it had a resident minister occupying a manse. (fn. 26) Registered as a separate chapel in 1949, and served from the 1950s, though with a gradually declining membership, by its own lay pastor, it was still open in the mid 1990s. (fn. 27)

Footnotes