History of Church House

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Church House stands on one of Scarborough's most historic religious sites, in the heart of the Old Town between Eastborough and St Sepulchre Street.

The story begins more than three centuries ago.

Since 1703

The first Nonconformist meeting house on the site was established in 1703, making it the oldest known Nonconformist meeting-house site in Scarborough. By 1890, local historian T. Bulmer recorded that the original chapel had been rebuilt and enlarged several times as its congregation grew. (Ramsdale)

The early congregation was small, but Scarborough was already developing as a destination for visitors. During the summer months, Scottish visitors to the town are said to have swelled the congregation considerably.

Among the chapel's longest-serving ministers were the Rev. William Whitaker, who served for around 50 years, and the Rev. Samuel Bottomley, whose ministry lasted for almost six decades. (Ramsdale)

The Church is rebuilt 

By the nineteenth century, the chapel had become known as the Old Meeting House.

In 1869, it was extensively rebuilt as Eastborough Congregational Church. So substantial was the reconstruction that a contemporary history later remarked that few traces of the earlier building remained. The church had entrances from both Eastborough and St Sepulchre Street — the latter being the side from which today's Church House is approached. (Ramsdale)

The building was designed by Manchester architects Paull & Robinson, with further work following in the early 1870s. (Flickr)

Its striking Eastborough frontage remains one of the building's most recognisable features: three great Gothic arches beneath the words:

ENTER INTO HIS GATES WITH THANKSGIVING

The inscription comes from Psalm 100 and can still be seen across the façade today. (Hull Museums Collection)

Those three arches also inspired the three-window mark that now forms the Church House logo.

## Many lives

Like Scarborough itself, the building has continually changed.

After its years as a Congregational church, it was later used as a Pentecostal church. During its more recent history the building has served other purposes too. An archival photograph held in the Hull Museums collection records the former church being used as a beach-goods supply store, while photographs from another period show the extraordinary sight of a Romany palmist and clairvoyant operating beneath the old church arches. (Hull Museums Collection)

The St Sepulchre Street side of the former church was eventually converted into residential accommodation, giving the building yet another chapter. (Flickr)

## Church House today

Today, The Loft at Church House continues that story.

The building has changed enormously since Scarborough's first meeting house stood here more than three centuries ago, but its history remains part of its character.

We chose the name Church House — and the three arches of our logo — as a nod to what came before us.

For centuries this has been a place where people gathered, arrived from elsewhere and passed through its doors.

We're simply the latest custodians of a very old Scarborough story.

CHURCH HOUSE  

Scarborough · Historic meeting-house site since 1703