Providence Chapel, Hadlow Down

The village of Hadlow Down is situated on high ground in the Sussex Weald between Buxted ( to the west) and Heathfield. Its first Anglican church, dedicated to St Mark, was built in 1836, The first place of worship in the village was, however, founded 12 years earlier. In 1824, Henry Smith—a local builder and Wesleyan Methodist—built an independent nonconformist chapel for the use of local Dissenters, principally Baptists. In 1849, it was replaced by the present building. This was recorded in the religious census of Sussex in 1851, for which the return (compiled by the chapel's trustee Benjamin Austen) stated there was accommodation for 600 worshippers and that typical Sunday attendance was 300 adults and 350–450 Sunday school children. The chapel was registered for marriages on 26 January 1876, and its denomination was recorded as "Calvinistic Baptist" in 1882. and was converted into a house in 1996. ==Architecture==

Providence Chapel is a square two-storey building of red and grey/blue brick with some Classical features such as a pediment and pilasters. The three-bay façade has two sash windows (originally blank recesses) on the ground floor and three above. The ground-floor windows flank a double doorway topped with a rounded fanlight. Above the upper windows is an open-based pediment with pilasters at each side; these are of red brick with wide grey stone quoins. The front wall is of red brick; at the side, there are alternate layers of red and glazed grey/blue bricks. The pediment has a circular stone motif bearing the text , and (referring to "James Hallett, Minister", who led the congregation at the time the chapel opened). ==See also==