Chapel for Sale

As many Forncett residents are probably aware, the large disused Methodist Chapel in Forncett End is up for sale. The chapel, which was built in 1865, closed its doors in May 2022 having served the community for more than 150 years. However, this is not the first time in its history that it has been on the market!

The construction of the chapel was funded by a local farmer, Thomas Palmer (1820 -1903), whose family had farmed Corner Farm in Forncett End since the early 1800s. in 1846, Palmer married Martha Betts, the daughter of a Moulton farming family, but they never had any children. Then, in the mid 1860s, Thomas Palmer retired from farming and in 1866 he moved to what became Austhorpe House near the Jolly Farmers PH. A few years previously, Palmer had joined the Primitive Methodist Connexion and in 1865 he decided to fund the building of a new chapel in the village. The chapel is thought to have cost Thomas Palmer about £1000 which was a huge sum in those days when agricultural workers were earning about £25 a year! The chapel was opened with great ceremony on Tuesday 10th October and after the service about 200 people attended a tea party at which Thomas Palmer presided.

However, only nine years later, in 1874, Thomas Palmer put the chapel up for sale by public auction. This act led to many letters in the local press, none of them favourable to Thomas Palmer. Finally in 1875 the Methodists purchased the chapel for the sum of £500 leaving themselves with a large mortgage, which took many years to pay off. 

In about 1880 Thomas Palmer suffered a major stroke which left him completely paralysed and bed-bound for the rest of his life. He died at Austhorpe House in September 1903, aged 83, and he was buried at Bunwell church. For a man who had apparently previously stood in such high esteem in the community, his departure appears to have been relatively unnoticed.

Writing about the chapel in the Christian Messenger in 1908 the Rev. Arthur Wardle said:

"Happily, public sentiment was on our side, and ultimately we secured the chapel for nearly £500. Was it a mere coincidence that immediately afterwards Mr. P. was stricken with paralysis and lay a helpless wreck for nearly 25 years before he died? Popular opinion always associated the one event with the other. The friends long struggled under financial burdens, but better times have come. Since the eviction, a school room has been built, and recently £300 have been spent in improvements, a large pedal organ installed, and the debt reduced to £50."

The large pedal organ was made locally by the Glasspoole brothers who lived in Wymondham. Their father, Arthur Glasspoole, was the organist at Wymondham Abbey from 1867 to 1880, and his sons set up their organ business near Town Green in around 1900. The organ is believed to be the only one made by the Glasspooles that is still in existence. In 2007 it was listed by the British Institute of Organ Studies as being "of importance to the national heritage and deserving of careful preservation".