The ancient market town of Lewes has a well-established history of ProtestantNonconformism. Many chapels were established in the 18th and 19th centuries in the town itself and in its suburbs of Southover and Cliffe. One such place of worship was the Jireh chapel. In or around 1805 a dispute arose between Jenkin Jenkins, the minister at Cliffe's Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion chapel, and its congregation. He was dismissed by the Countess's Trustees and arranged for a new chapel to be built for him nearby. Jireh Chapel was placed in the hands of trustees about 1807. Prior to that time it had been the personal property of Jenkin Jenkins. The Trust Deed states that the Chapel is a place of Christian worship to be "frequented and enjoyed by a congregation of Protestant Dissenters of the Calvinistic persuasion professing..". A list of certain Articles of Faith, extracted from the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, follows. The Article on Infant baptism is included in the Trust Deed of the Chapel. Jenkins enlisted William Huntington to open the church, which was completed in 1805. Huntington, originally from Cranbrook in Kent, was an orthodox but controversial Calvinist preacher who ministered at Providence Chapel, Grays Inn Lane, London. Known by various pseudonyms, he became very popular in southeast England in the early 19th century, and helped to found several Calvinist chapels. An example of his eccentricity was his reference to Jenkins as "W.A." and himself as "S.S." ; the "W.A." epithet featured on a tablet below the chapel's gabled roof which commemorated its opening. It reads. Huntington died in 1813 and was buried in a tomb in the small graveyard behind the chapel. The chapel proved popular, and was extended in 1826 to give a capacity of about 1,000. The interior was almost entirely wooden, with box-pews and galleries. A Sunday school was built in the grounds in 1874; it was linked to the chapel's north wall by a columned porch surmounted by a pediment. The chapel's use declined in the 20th century, and the Loyal Orange Institution of England, Southdowns Lodge used it for their annual commemorative service on the Sunday prior to November 5. Many members of the various Bonfire Societies attended this annual "Bonfire" service. The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulsterdenomination was founded by Ian Paisley on 17 March 1951 in Crossgar, a village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It quickly became established across Northern Ireland, where dozens of churches were founded, and some congregations developed in the rest of Great Britain as well. Scotland and Wales each have several, and in there are seven in England. The Lewes congregation established itself in the Jireh chapel, which is therefore now in regular use again. Lewes has a strong history of non-conformism and has one of the fewOrange lodges in the South of England.
Architecture
Although externally clad in red brick and tiles, the chapel is completely timber-framed. The entrance is at the east end and is framed by a porch with columns of the Tuscan order, described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "over-broad". Above this, three evenly spaced sash windows, an oculus and the stone tablet sit below the gable. A chimney breast extends up the west wall. The roof is covered with slate tiles and has a small boxlike louvred projection, topped with a pyramid-style cap, in the middle. There are four pairs of sash windows in the north and south walls, which are faced with mathematical tiles and slates respectively. Inside, wood predominates: the barrel-vaulted timber roof is supported on wooden columns attached to the gallery which runs around all four sides of the interior. The galleries are in turn held up with five timber columns on the north and south sides. Wooden staircases leading to the galleries are situated in all four corners. An octagonal pulpit stands at the west end. Original pine box-pews remain in the galleries and the main body of the chapel.
