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Description
Several passengers on the Mayflower came from Billericay in Essex – including Christopher Martin, who was originally the governor of the leaky Speedwell. There had been religious dissenters in the town since the early 17th century; after the community outgrew several sites, a new large church was built in 1839 and joined the Congregational Union. In October 1919, the year before the massive 300th anniversary of the voyage, it was announced in the Congregational Church that they hoped to build a ‘Mayflower Hall’ for the church community in memory of the Pilgrims that came from Billericay. Over the next few years, any time there was a fete or a concert in the church the funds raised went towards paying for the Hall – which, it was expected, would cost £3,500 (in the end it came to £4,000, which wasn’t paid off until the 1940s).
In 1926, the stone-laying ceremony finally took place and, in 1927, the Hall was opened. Congregationalists and people from all denominations across Essex flocked to witness the event. Boy scouts carried the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes in honour of the countries joined by the Pilgrim Fathers and, after a brief service outside led by Rev H. Ross Williamson (the Moderator of the Eastern Province of the Congregational union), J.C. Meggitt (chairman of the Union) was handed a presentation silver key by the architect, E. Ford Duncanson, and led the crowds inside. In a long first address, the Rev D.W. Langridge (Chairman of the Essex Congregational Union) celebrated the sacrifice of the Pilgrims, and how the ‘faith of these old Puritans quenched the fire of the persecutors in England, and gained for them the liberties which they enjoyed today’. Langridge couldn’t help but draw attention to contemporary circumstances: "What was wanted in these days was the Puritan spirit without the Puritan theology. They took their lives seriously, and would have had a supreme contempt for the jazzing about which was so characteristic of the youth of to-day."
After imploring the audience to continue to protect liberty and peace in the world, D. Campbell Lee (chairman of the American Society, London) unveiled a tablet in the vestibule bearing the inscription: "To commemorate Christopher Martin, Marie Martin, Solomon Prower, John Langerman, of Billericay, who sailed in the Mayflower, 1620."
In 1926, the stone-laying ceremony finally took place and, in 1927, the Hall was opened. Congregationalists and people from all denominations across Essex flocked to witness the event. Boy scouts carried the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes in honour of the countries joined by the Pilgrim Fathers and, after a brief service outside led by Rev H. Ross Williamson (the Moderator of the Eastern Province of the Congregational union), J.C. Meggitt (chairman of the Union) was handed a presentation silver key by the architect, E. Ford Duncanson, and led the crowds inside. In a long first address, the Rev D.W. Langridge (Chairman of the Essex Congregational Union) celebrated the sacrifice of the Pilgrims, and how the ‘faith of these old Puritans quenched the fire of the persecutors in England, and gained for them the liberties which they enjoyed today’. Langridge couldn’t help but draw attention to contemporary circumstances: "What was wanted in these days was the Puritan spirit without the Puritan theology. They took their lives seriously, and would have had a supreme contempt for the jazzing about which was so characteristic of the youth of to-day."
After imploring the audience to continue to protect liberty and peace in the world, D. Campbell Lee (chairman of the American Society, London) unveiled a tablet in the vestibule bearing the inscription: "To commemorate Christopher Martin, Marie Martin, Solomon Prower, John Langerman, of Billericay, who sailed in the Mayflower, 1620."
Source
Sources: ‘Opening of Mayflower Hall at Billericay’, Chelmsford Chronicle (27th May 1927), 2.