PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY.
In 1672
a house was licensed for Presbyterian worship. (fn. 40)
Little further is known of dissenting activity in
Hayes until 1831, when there was said to be a place
of worship for Independents. (fn. 41) During the 1830s and
early 1840s several houses were licensed for meetings
of unidentified dissenters. These included Gothic
House, Hayes, and two cottages at Wood End
Green. (fn. 42)
John and Charles Wesley preached in Hayes
church on at least ten occasions between 1748 and
1753, (fn. 43) and George Whitefield also visited the parish
in 1750. (fn. 44) It has been assumed that John Wesley was
married to Mrs. Vazeille at Hayes in 1751 (fn. 45) but
there appears to be no proof of this. By 1816 the
Methodists had erected a small chapel in Hayes; (fn. 46)
and in 1874 the Morgan's Lane Tabernacle was said
to be in existence. (fn. 47) Nothing else is known of the
Methodist congregation until 1906, when the Hayes
Tabernacle at Wood End Green was registered by
Wesleyan Methodists. (fn. 48) The registration was cancelled in 1927 when the Methodist church in Morgan's Lane, Hayes End, was opened. (fn. 49) This in turn
was closed when the church in Uxbridge Road was
registered in 1935. (fn. 50) In 1961 the church was a large
north-facing red-brick building with a slate roof.
A Methodist church, about which nothing more is
known, was opened in Clayton Road in 1909. (fn. 51) The
registration (dated 1927) of another Methodist church,
in Station Road, (fn. 52) was cancelled in 1930 on the
registration of the Queen's Hall, Station Road. (fn. 53)
A Baptist chapel had been erected in Hayes by
1835 (fn. 54) and one still existed in the mid 19th century. (fn. 55)
The Salem Baptist chapel, which belonged to John
Weekly, was registered in 1843, (fn. 56) and may be identifiable with the earlier chapel. By 1849 the trustees of
the Salem chapel had acquired land fronting on
Uxbridge Road to hold for the order of the Particular
Baptists of Strict Communion. During the 19th century there was a chapel school next door to the
Uxbridge Road chapel, and by 1943 the old chapel
was itself used as the school. (fn. 57) The Salem chapel in
Uxbridge Road was registered again in 1897 and in
1908 (fn. 58) when the present small building was erected. (fn. 59)
The Particular Baptists registered the Hayes Tabernacle at Wood End Green in 1872. (fn. 60) It was licensed
for marriages in 1873, (fn. 61) but the registration was
cancelled in 1906. (fn. 62) A Baptist Tabernacle hall was
said to have been in existence in 1913 (fn. 63) in Station
Road. This was probably the forerunner of the Baptist chapel which was opened in Station Road, at
Botwell, in 1922, (fn. 64) and was called the Baptist Tabernacle in 1923. This registration was cancelled in
1934, (fn. 65) after a new Tabernacle had been built in
Coldharbour Lane. (fn. 66) In 1960 the chapel had 96
members. (fn. 67) The Baptists set up a mission church
in Lansbury Drive, Grange Park, in 1934, (fn. 68) and the
church was officially founded in 1946. In 1960 it had
105 members. (fn. 69) In 1961 the brick building consisted
of a single story with a hall at the rear.
The Hayes Town Congregational chapel, founded
in 1788, (fn. 70) was first mentioned in 1841 when a piece
of land in Church Road was in the hands of the
chapel trustees. Before this date it was known as the
Hayes Town chapel, but the name was then altered
to the Hayes Congregational chapel. (fn. 71) The chapel
was in existence in 1874 (fn. 72) and was registered by the
Congregationalists in 1884. (fn. 73) By 1939, however, it
was disused and services were held in premises 'not
far away'. Although the old premises had been
damaged by fire the chapel, gallery, and basement
were still used for Sunday schools, youth meetings,
and other activities. (fn. 74) In 1955 a new chapel, on the
corner of Church Road and St. Mary's Road, was
registered (fn. 75) and a hall was to be added with the proceeds of the sale of the old building. (fn. 76) In 1959 the
old chapel was demolished during road widening.
The Botwell Brotherhood and Sisterhood meetings were first started in 1913, the Brotherhood
meeting in a cinema, and the Sisterhood in the Baptist Tabernacle hall, both in Station Road. The sites
were acquired by Woolworths, and the meetings
moved to a hall built by the Brotherhood members,
also in Station Road, next to the Post Office. In the
early 1930s, this hall was sold for Post Office extensions and the Central Hall, Coldharbour Lane, was
built in 1932. (fn. 77) In 1961 the Brotherhood had
a membership of about 40, and the Sisterhood one
of 100, both organizations being non-sectarian and
non-political. (fn. 78)
The Salvation Army registered a barracks in
Hayes between 1887 and 1896, (fn. 79) and their hall in
Coldharbour Lane was registered in 1927. (fn. 80)
The Hayes Spiritualist Society registered the
Albert Hall, Albert Road, in 1947. (fn. 81) The Elim
Church, in Keith Road, was registered in 1951 by
the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance; (fn. 82) the singlestory building, which presumably also dates from
1951, is of red brick. The Apostolic Church registered their chapel in Willow Tree Lane, Yeading, in
1954. (fn. 83) The Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witnesses stood in 1961 behind Church Walk, almost
opposite the council offices; it consisted of a long,
low, prefabricated building with a small entrance
porch, and was probably erected in the 1950s.