How it looked then . . .

The building was the traditional type for non-conformist chapels, the length twice the width, with  a gallery and good acoustics. Narrow pews with red baize covered kneelers were installed. The tops of the pews were so constructed as to allow planks to be fitted for special occasions to act as narrow tables for teas. There were four circular ventilators fitted in the ceiling from which hung large oil lamps. A baptistry for believers’ baptism was sunk in the floor in front of the painted wooden pulpit, which had a small box with a candlestick on either side of the reading desk. Mains water was not connected until 1903, prior to this the baptistry was filled with rainwater from the roof.

 The woodwork surrounding the walls and the gallery was painted a dark brown, and the pews a light beige colour. The centre aisle and the area around the baptistry were of red quarry tiles. The heating was by a slow combustion stoves in the main area and in the vestry, by an open fire. A chain hung in the chimney on which to hang a kettle.
The walls were painted green and verses of Scripture in wooden frames were hung on the walls. These gave place to ones on the wall surfaces at the early part of the 20th century. The main one was over the pulpit, “Worthy is the lamb that was slain” was in gold leaf; the others being painted.

Gas lighting and heating were installed around the mid twenties, electric lighting in the early fifties and main drainage in 1958. The front of the building had four blind windows, a reminder of the Window Tax imposed in 1696 and abolished in 1851. This type of structure reduced the number of bricks required which were taxed by a law in 1784 at half a crown per thousand, and in 1803 at five shillings a thousand. This law was repealed in 1850. The front porch was added at some unknown period. An old fashioned gas lamp used to be over the entrance door.
On the South side of the chapel was a small stable (from which the Godstone Council raised five shillings a year in Rates for some years), in which worshippers who came from a distance could stable their ponies. This was converted internally and opened in 1930 for use as a children’s classroom. Damp and dry rot ruined the building and it was rebuilt in 1989, with the assistance of voluntary labour.