The 1898 Primitive Methodist magazine reports evangelistic work in West Brixton, particularly, the acquisition of a new place of worship. It was an iron building and since its opening, congregations had grown from the 30 or so who met in the previous place to around 200, with an offertory of 30 shillings weekly.
Where was the iron chapel and what happened to the society?
Reference
Primitive Methodist magazine November 1898 page 875
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Update on the Brixton Society article. The site of the Tin Tabernacle is now occupied by a housing development, seems to be 7 one bedroom flats @ £475,000 each.
There is a small chapel (50-70 seats I guess) on the ground floor behind anonymous looking abstract patterned glass. No signage from the original Bible Truth Church of God, so this facility might be available to get planning permission for a £3.5 million housing scheme on the church site?
It is a shame that the tabernacle has gone – as far as we know this was the last example in Lambeth.
This seems to be a long but interesting story. There was a church or chapel called Immanuel Church with “seats for 900” on the west side of what is now Hetherington Road, West Brixton on the 1894 1:1056 OS map. I have found reference to a book called “Fifty Sermons Preached In Immanuel Church, West Brixton, 1884–85” by Aubrey Charles Price, but this still gives no clue as to the denomination. Anyway, the chapel seems to have been demolished soon afterwards – presumably by 1898 – and a tin tabernacle was erected on the north part of the site (coordinates 51.461071, -0.128230). It was registered with the name “Immanuel Primitive Methodist Church” on 13 October 1910 (number in the Worship Register: 44485). At that time the road was known as Kelloway Street; it was renamed Hetherington Road in 1917. The certificate was submitted by F. Sydney Bullough, Minister, of 64 Mayburn (?) Avenue, Clapham. Its registration was cancelled on 25 April 1963, and the tin tabernacle was immediately acquired by the Bible Truth Church of God, who re-registered it for their use on 21 May 1963 (number in the Worship Register: 69103). Latterly it was painted pale blue. The Brixton Society reports that it was demolished in late February 2021, and a new building consisting of a ground-floor chapel and 8 flats will be built on the site. Google StreetView views are available between 2008 and 2020.
The Brixton Society’s report on the matter, available at https://www.brixtonsociety.org.uk/hetherington-road-tin-chapel-folds/, gives photos before and after demolition and has links to the Bible Truth Church of God’s YouTube chapel, which gives internal views of the tin tabernacle.
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