MANSFIELD ROAD

The church assembling in this place of worship originated in a division at the church in Stoney street in 1850. The members, at the time of its formation, numbered 251; in November, 1852, they had increased to 303. The chapel was opened on the 23^rd of October, 1850. The total cost of its erection amounted to about £3,000. Mr. W. BOOKER, architect, Nottingham, designed the chapel; the builder was Mr. SMITH; and the masonry and stone carving were by Mr. N. BROWN.

The structure is of red brick, with Horley castle (Derbyshire) stone dressings, and a deep plinth of Bulwell stone. The architecture is Romanesque, of the late or transition period of the Anglo-Norman style, "when simple grandeur was being replaced by light and graceful combinations." The chief feature in the elevation is a spacious porch, the principal entrance to the building: it is approached by a broad flight of steps, and consists of an arcaded vestibule having semicircular arches enriched with the cheuron or zigzag mould, supported by massive pillars with carved capitals. The external angles are strengthened by flat stone buttresses of the period, and the parapet is relieved by introducing bricks of a dark color, slightly recessed in diaper work. Two projecting brick strings encircle the main building, the space between being occupied by a zigzag ornament of black bricks.

The edifice is lighted by recessed windows; and over the porch is an arcade formed of interlacing semi-circular arches, some of which are pierced for windows. The flanks are plainer, ornamental brickwork being substituted for more costly stone. The whole is surmounted by a projecting brick cornice, with a plain parapet: this cornice, being continued along the front, carries a stone string, from which rise four attached columns, supporting a massive pedimental cornice. The chief feature of the gable is a fine wheel window. The building is rectangular; its length within the walls is 73 feet, its breadth 51 feet. At the eastern end is the porch, with lobby entrances into the chapel at each extremity; at the western end is a suite of apartments used as vestries and committee rooms; over these is a spacious school or lecture room.

Within the chapel alternative pilasters and corbels with arches and moulded strings relieve the walls; the deeply panelled ceiling has moulded ribs and spandrels. The arrangement of the seats, open benches stained to imitate oak, is amphitheatric; they can accommodate 700 persons. The pulpit stands at the west end: it is of carved oak, and is of a truly novel design, partaking largely of the platform character. The central portion, slightly elevated, is surmounted by a canopy, which serves the purpose of a sounding board. The communion table, and the reading desk and chair, are also of oak, the two latter being elaborately carved.

The Sunday school, which has 30 male and 20 female teachers, contains 180 scholars. A benevolent society and two book clubs exist in connexion with the congregation. The pastor is the Rev. George Alexander SYME, M.A., under whom the church has greatly prospered. Mr. SYME labors with the courageous spirit for the social and political advancement of his fellow men; his appearances on the platform are effective, because earnest and thoroughly original; while in the pulpit it appears to be his grand aim to unite science, and art, and literature as the handmaids of religion.

Mr. SYME was born at Montrose, in the county of Forfar, in 1821. Admitted a student at King's College and University, Aberdeen, in 1835, he fours years after took the degree of M.A. In 1840 he entered St. Mary's Hall, St. Andrews, for the study of theology, and in 1843 was appointed by the commissioners of the General Assembly of the Free Church to preach at Lockerby, Dunfriesshire. Subsequently he removed to Blackbridge and Slamannan, Linlithgowshire; but he soon left the Free Church, as he entertained objections to the Calvinistic view of election and limited atonement maintained in the Scottish Confession of Faith, as well as to the state-church principle, to which the Free Church party clung, even after the Disruption. In November, 1848, Mr. SYME came to Nottingham, having been received into the General Baptist denomination in that year. He officiated for some time as assistant minister of Stoney street chapel, and at the secession from that church was appointed pastor of the new place of worship on Mansfield road. "Mr. SYME," says the eloquent George GILFILLAN of Dundee, "is an earnest, true-hearted, and independent-minded young man, whose struggles - and he has not wanted them - are sure at last to be crowned with victory."