1908 – John Bunyan Memorial Hall, Elstow, Bedfordshire

In 1910 the Bunyan Memorial Hall, on a site next to the village school, was built. The foundation stone was laid on 20th May and the building was opened on 27th October that year. The site was given by the Whitbread family. The building has a three layered stained glass window depicting scenes from Pilgrim’s Progress.

“There was a felicitous and interesting ceremony at Elstow on Thursday, when Sir Frederick Howard laid the memorial stone of the new Bunyan Memorial Hall at Elstow. For nearly a hundred years a congregation has worshipped in the venerable Moot Hall on the Green, and has been served by a succession of faithful workers, and now it is felt that the time is come when the congregation should have a more permanent and better equipped home for the work. In this beautiful and historic village there are many memories and memorials of Bunyan and his times, and it seems fitting that there should be a memorial building in which the people who endeavour to walk in the way that he pointed out should meet to draw inspiration from his teachings and uphold his traditions and the example of his piety. The Hall, which is to stand upon a site which had been given with characteristic generosity by Mr. Samuel Whitbread, will provide good accommodation, for the purposes of public worship and for the work of the Sunday School. It is estimated to cost, when completed, £1,600, and of this sum £1,086 had been already contributed. It is the hope of the Committee that it may be possible to open the Hall in September next, practically free of debt. The work of building has been commissioned, and the foundations are being well and soundly laid.

The site is on the main street, adjoining the village school, and nearly opposite the Bunyan cottage. The ground plan shows a main hall 46 feet by 25 feet, approached by an entrance porch, with oak doors, and there will be two class-rooms, which will be separated from the main hall by a folding movable division, so that they can be easily used as additions to the hall, the whole giving seating accommodation for nearly three hundred people. There will also be an infants’ room 20 feet by 15 feet, a class room 15 feet by 12 feet, library, cloak and ladies’ room. The floors are to be of maple wood, and there will be a pine dado 4 feet high round the wall, which in the upper part will be plastered. The roof will be partly open, showing the timbers of the roof principals and ceiling at the collar line. The heating will be provided for in part by hot water radiators, and special attention will be given to the ventilation. Externally the walls will be of red sandstock bricks, and the roof will be covered with red tiles, the gables being half-timbered in oak with rough timbered panels, overhanging eaves and barge boards. The elevation fronting the road shows a large and handsome Tudor bay window, with oak mullions and transoms and lead lights. The gable above the window is filled in dark oak vertical timbers, rough cast between, and bordered by barge boards under the eaves which are supported by ornamental brackets, the whole being terminated at the apex with a finial. There are two similar gables on the north side to the ends of the two classrooms, and another at the end of the infants’ room on the south side. A turret ventilator will be placed on the ridge of the main roof. It will be seen that the style chosen for the building is a pleasing treatment of the English domestic, which is well in keeping with the old-world air of this interesting village.

The contractors are Messrs Freshwater and Sons of Bedford and the work is being carried out from the plans and designs, and under the superintendence of the architects, Messrs Usher and Anthony, 9 Saint Paul’s Square, Bedford.
The Bedfordshire Times, May 20, 1910