The full article from a local newspaper in 1933. Unfortunately a few words were illegible.
Methodist Centenary
At Dogsthorpe Wesleyan Chapel
Next Sunday’s Great Celebrations
An Historical Retrospect.
Next Sunday marks an historical epoch in Methodism when the centenary of the Dogsthorpe Wesleyan Chapel is celebrated.
A Great Cause
It was in the spring of the year 1833 that the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in the peaceful hamlet of Dogsthorpe was built.
On that same spot, within a hundred yards of the village green, midst pleasant pastoral surroundings, where cattle still browse, and the listless brook still ripples by the Chapel still stands. The interest that was so evidently displayed in those far off days has been continued with varying measures of success ever since, and from the fervour displayed at the present time, the good work should continue for a long time to come.
There is no record of the kind of service or of the enthusiasm displayed when the Chapel was opened, but we do know that at the centenary celebrations to be held next Sunday evening ina different manner perhaps, but nevertheless equally sincere, there will be offered thanks for the long continuance of a great cause.
An augmented choir has been rehearsing the Methodist hymn tunes, and the Salvation Army Junior Band has been engaged, and the climax to this special, though rare occasion, will be the address, to be delivered by the Rev J Tregear Chenhalls, Superintendent Minister.
Mr Thomas Parker’s Work
But to get back to the beginning. There has never been a C of E Church in Dogsthorpe. The village then coming under the parish church of St John, Peterborough.
A walk of two miles or more was a serious thing to the hard worked peasants on their day of rest a hundred years ago, and so it was the more religiously disposed attended the neighbouring Church at Paston, while the rest it can be safely assumed, in the Summer, spent their time when the public houses were shut, in leaning against walls, clad in smock frocks, or in the gorgeous velveteen-sleeved waistcoats, which alas! Now no longer add their pleasing colour to the rural scene.
It was to remedy this state of things that Mr Thomas Parker, who was a Wesleyan of the old school – a Methodist Churchman- had services on Sunday evenings in one of his cottages. He then farmed at Sly Farm which stood on the spot where the imposing residence of Mr and Mrs W T Wilson now stands. After this he took by far the largest share in the erection of the Chapel, a tiny brick building, with a pulpit to which access was made by steps, and which reached to the flat ceiling. There were some dozen pews. On one side of the pulpit was the Parker Pew and on the other the Singing Pew. Each pew was lined round with green baize and small brass headed nails. According to the custom of the Methodists of that day, the Chapel services were never held at the same time as those of the Paston Church, where Thomas Parker was regular in his attendance. It was however, for the deeper spiritual wants of his nature that he found more satisfaction in the earnest homely worship of Methodism than in the colder more formal, and perhaps, rather perfunctory services of the Church of England at that time. It has been recorded of him that his religious views and religious life were a direct outcome of this now obsolete, mingling of Churchmanship with dissent.
Father of Great Scientist
Thomas Parker, though not qualifying for any special intellectual ability, was a very capable business man. He made his farm pay, and was able to provide a respectable patrimony for each of his children.
He married a farmer’s daughter, Sarah Kitchen, and it was to their youngest son that they gave him Kitchen as a Christian name. The name William Kitchen Parker was known by every scientist and man of of eminence in Great Britain. He was educated at King’s School, under the headmastership of the Rev. William Cape. He started his career as an apprentice to a druggist named Woodroffe at Stamford. He ultimately became a famous surgeon, was Hunterian Professor of Anatomy and Phsychology of the Royal College of Surgeons, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. The science of the world today is the richer for his researches on the Foraminifera and on the Vertebrate Skeleton, and for his learned writings. Like so many great scientists he was an intensly religious man and it has been said of him “from his fifteenth year to his death he kept undimmed by illness or sorrow an abiding sense of the Divine presence. He died on the third day of June 1890, and was buried by the side of his wife in Wandsworth Cemetery.
The Eldest Son
It was the eldest son, Thomas Parker who took over the farm and carried it on successfully. In the year 1879 he died, and his wife continued to live there until February 16th 1904, when , after her death, the old farm was sold and subsequently demolished.
The farm comprised a large quantity of land, and with it Thomas Parker took over the brickyard and pottery works and sold plain and fancy pots, tiles, bricks and pipes. He supplied the gentry with material, and before the police were appointed at Dogsthorpe, acted as hamlet constable. It was he who had the old smithy pulled down and a new house and blacksmith’s shop built, which now stands on the same spot and faces the village green.
In the old thatched cottage across the way, which was the grocer’s shop and also the bakehouse, lives a direct descendant of the famous Parker family, Mr William Parker, son of Thomas Parker. He took over the business at the brickyard, and eventually went to work on the railway at New England. He has passed his three score and ten years, and has been living in retirement for about eight years.
Enlarging the Chapel
The old Chapel being small, in ---- of time, it was found that it did not meet the needs of a growing district, and it was enlarged. The pulpit and pews replaced by a rostrum and seats, and made much more up to date. In the ---- of the old pews it woe betide any stranger to sit in those allotted to the inc----. When this happened, the regular ---- the pews would stand calmly by until the temporary holders had made a somewhat undignified exit.
During the last 50 years there have been many Dogsthorpe born folk who toiled for the Methodist cause. Some ---- “crossed the bar.” Looking over the years we recall such worthy persons as Mr William Turner (father of Miss---).
Mr William Turner, the first Superintendent of the Sunday School, was a native of Dogsthorpe and ---- came to Peterborough about 73 years ago. He started the Sunday School at the Dogsthorpe Chapel and carried on for nearly 50 years. He walked backwards and forwards from Peterborough each Sunday, and died on August 31st 1913.
The First Organist
Mrs Twelvetree who was first taken to the Sunday School when she was little more than two years old, was the first organist there. The music to the singing was, before the first organ came, provided by an old harmonium which was carried from Mr Tyler’s house to the Chapel and back each Sunday. Mrs Twelvetree was quite a young woman when the scheme was launched for providing a new and more up to date instrument. She with others, made a house to house collection, and within a fortnight they had secured sufficient money to purchase a new organ. This was supplied by Mr Claypole, and he officially opened it. Mr Twelvetree, too has been connected with the chapel for a large number of years. He commenced as a Sunday School teacher, and was not long before he was made secretary. He subsequently held the office of Superintendent, and has also been Society Steward. Both Mr and Mrs Twelvetree still take an active part in the work, Mr Twelvetree holding the office of Hon Secretary to the Dogsthorpe Outing fund.
Progress in the last decade
It is during the last decade that the greatest progress, perhaps has been made in Dogsthorpe Methodist history. And in this respect the greater onus of the praise must go to Mr Richard Palmer, who by his influence and personal help has raised funds in order that the Chapel might be brought up to the requirements of modern times. The first job undertaken was to replace the old and time worn fencing in front of the Chapel. Then came the severance with the old fashioned paraffin lamp, which suspended from the ceiling, threw a somewhat diffused light over the worshippers. These were replaced with electric light. The last improvement was the scrapping of the combustion stove, which was replaced by electric radiators. But, perhaps what the Dogsthorpe folk appreciate as much as anything was the bringing into being of the Outing Fund Club which has grown in membership ever since its inception. This outing, which this year will go to Skegness, is looked forward to with considerable eagerness by old and young alike.
The boys and girls of the Sunday School and teachers join in this outing. Connected with this are Mr and Mrs E Wooding. Mr Wooding holds the office of Superintendent, and Mrs Wooding has a class of young girls during the week. And so the good work goes on.
Sunday evening next will undoubtedly mark a red letter day in Dogsthorpe history. It is expected that there will be a extended congregation to share in these Centenary Celebrations, which will be concluded the following Thursday with an ------- on the Tennis Courts - WRU