THE SALVATION ARMY IN CIRENCESTER

A Short History

By David Grace

The Temperance Hall, Thomas Street The Salvation Army’s link with the Temperance Hall began on Sunday 16th August 1881 when it was used for the first indoor meeting conducted by Salvationists from Stroud who helped to establish the corps. The local newspaper had first recorded a group of ‘eccentric enthusiasts’ holding open air meetings in the town two days earlier when a large crowd was gathered ‘out of curiosity’ Under its pioneer commanding officer, Captain Philip Symmonds, the Hall quickly became the Army’s ‘barracks’, conveniently situated close to the Market Place, where lively open air meetings were regularly held, and next to the sprawl of decaying weaver’s cottages and alleyways in Gloucester Street, which provided fertile territory for evangelism.

Gloucester Street. Late 19th Century

The Hall also provided a refuge, or sorts, from the mobs of opponents who broke up meetings in the centre of town and pursued the marches along the street, hurling abuse and all manner of missiles and frequently violently assaulting anyone associated with the movement. In the first two or three years, the Market Place was the scene of riots involving hundreds of opponents and Thomas Street was regularly blocked by noisy thugs attempting to break into the Hall and stop meetings. The police were daily (though not always promptly) sent to quell disturbances rarely seen in the town before. Indeed, the local police superintendent declared the Army ‘one of the greatest nuisances ever to have come to the town’. On 2nd October, a mob of around four hundred attacked the Temperance Hall and for the next two or three years, scenes like this were a regular feature of Cirencester life. The Salvationists, however, seem to have reveled in the challenge even when, according to a report in the War Cry ‘one of the Devil’s soldiers fired off a dead rat’, possibly because ‘it was spent shot before it reached us’. More violent attacks left their victims with black eyes and broken limbs but they continued in a round of exhausting activities in and around the town.

Reconstruction of a riot in the Market Place

Several prominent court cases followed riots and assaults but, initially, there was little sympathy for the Army. Residents in the Market Place (perhaps understandably) complained of the nightly ‘scraping’ of hymn tunes on fiddles, the ‘hollering’ of songs and the monotonous thump, thump of the ‘intolerable drum’, so it is not surprising that some magistrates blamed the Salvationists for provoking trouble by ‘singing and making a row’. Even the sympathetic trustees of the Temperance Hall, no doubt considering the neighbours, were forced to request that, indoors, the use of the drum should be controlled on Sundays. Eventually, damage to the Hall led to the termination of its daily availability but it continued to be the place for major gatherings for the rest of the century with the commanding officers living close by in Tontine Buildings in Cecily Hill. Regular meeting around the Town Pump in the Market Place attracted attention and recruited ‘soldiers’ to the ranks from some of the most deprived parts of the town, fulfilling General Booth’s command to ‘go for souls and go for the worst’.

Cirencester Market Place in the late 19th Century

Despite opposition, Army meetings could regularly pack the Hall with 600 seated and more sitting on the gallery steps and even the magistrates began to appreciate the real cause of the violence. A number of local champions, especially among the Quakers who managed the Hall, supported the Army’s work among the poor in the Gloucester Street and Cricklade Street areas and the movement began to gain sympathy, if not always understanding, of its eccentric ways. Activities moved beyond the town to the countryside around and by the end of the decade the Army was established in Cricklade, Fairford and Tetbury, along with villages such as Ashton Keynes, Coln St Aldwyns and Baunton. Most of its membership came from the poorer areas in the towns and from the farm labourers in the country. Some craftsmen, like shoemakers and bakers also joined. The Army seems to have reached its target group – those often neglected by the established churches at the time. The methods used to attract converts were brash and noisy, employing the excitement of the music hall and the music of the street entertainers. Along with the drum, bands, consisting of fiddles, tambourines, cornets and melodeons enlivened marches through the streets, together with a waving banner. The distribution of leaflets with headlines such as: ‘WAR, WAR, WAR. An inroad into the Devil’s kingdom’ also commanded attention. In addition to lively worship and open air evangelism, the Salvationists also specialized in the ‘Monster Tea’, usually held at the Hall, where vast quantities of food were consumed as ‘ammunition for the fight’.

Invading the countryside. Illustration from the ‘War Cry’.

Every opportunity was taken to get the message across, including funerals, which were used as an excuse to parade the town in military fashion reminding onlookers of the need to be prepared – a favourite song used on these occasions was ‘Who’ll Be the Next?’ At its height, few people can have been unaware of the Army within a 15 mile radius of Cirencester. However, by 1900, there had been a decline in salvationist activity, as initial excitement abated, some pioneer converts died and, perhaps more significantly, local economic circumstances encouraged people to look elsewhere for work. By the time William Booth was given a civic reception in Cirencester in 1907, during one of his ‘motorcades’, the corps was no longer operating officially, although several former stalwarts took part in the arrangements. Many appear to have kept together through meetings of the ‘Pleasant Sunday Afternoons’ gatherings at the Temperance Hall, so it was not difficult to revive the corps soon after the First World War, when initial meetings, again at the Temperance Hall in 1921, were well attended and there was clear enthusiasm for a fresh start. Former activists were joined by newcomers and, helped by visits from nearby corps, a regular programme of meetings was being reported in the local press.

Activities became concentrated on the Watermoor end of the town and, initially, the New Town Hall, which stood opposite Watermoor School and had just been erected as a focal point for the area, was the official meeting place and was offered as a permanent ‘barracks’.

New Town Hall

The 1920’s saw an explosion of activities and a new found enthusiasm to bring back all the former methods of the pioneers and introduce a few new ones. A band (using the original drum returned from the Midland and South Western Junction Railway Band), had been reformed under bandmaster Tom Morse and singers and children’s groups, including scouts, were all established quickly, showing that the Army had merely been dormant awaiting revival. Former members were supplemented by new converts attracted the range of activities and a less formal approach to religion. The most important ambition, however, was to find a permanent home for the corps, something which had been unable to achieve in its early years and which had, undoubtedly contributed to its difficulties. The Temperance Hall had always been rented and was not exclusively available at any time and open air worship (the Lord’s Cathedral’, as one local Salvationist put it) was more often than not the meeting place for the corps.

The Band. 1920’s

The ‘Sunbeams’

‘Chums’, Army Cubs group, in 1920’s The New Town Hall was only a temporary solution and a scheme had already been set up to develop a nearby site as a meeting place. By 1926, funds had been raised for the construction of the Army’s first purpose built premises in Watermoor Road. A ‘temporary’ structure in wood and asbestos, it served the corps for fifty years and still stands (although it is soon to be demolished for development). It became Watermoor’s ‘second church’ and its Sunday School was home every week to a large proportion of the younger residents of the area in their early years and continued to be so for several decades.

The Salvation Army Hall in Watermoor Road

The Salvation Army Hall in Watermoor Road (1960s)

In 1935, William Booth’s daughter, Evangeline, now ‘General’, was also given a civic welcome when visiting Cirencester, this time with active Salvationists in attendance.

During the Second World War, the hall found itself the home to evacuee children who were offered evening play facilities and the numerous military establishments set up in the area brought visitors to the corps from all over the world, along with refugees, like Janina Pladek (Neale), who escaped from war torn Poland and joined the Army locally before devoting a lifetime to work among native South Africans. In Cirencester, she used her language skills when German prisoners of war, based at Siddington Hall began attending meetings. While working locally, they were also welcomed into the homes of local Salvationists.

German POW’s outside the Watermoor Hall

Outside the Watermoor Hall. 1947

Singing Company. 1950’s

The post war years saw a consolidation of work in Watermoor with further children’s groups established and the band reconstituted in the 1960’s, enabling the Army to offer its services to towns and villages in the surrounding area.

Band Commissioning 1962

Closer links were formed with the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Nonconformist churches in Cirencester with the growth of the ecumenical movement and these continue through Churches Together in the town. The Parish Church has been the venue for several major performances by Army musical groups and the band and corps members have taken part in several broadcasts of ‘Songs of Praise’ for the BBC.

Timbrel Group in Cirencester Parish Church

Young people have been encouraged to adopt contemporary approaches to music making to continue the mission to keep religious worship relevant and they were also included in film productions of Bible stories made by the corps.

Filming ‘Naaman the Leper’

1970: The Singing Company

The hall in Watermoor Road had always been intended as temporary premises and in 1969 the shop next door was obtained as officer’s living quarters and Sunday School space with the hope that the whole site could be developed with a new building. However, a better opportunity arose and, in 1977, the Army once again returned to the Temperance Hall, this time permanently, after purchasing the property from the Hall trustees when it fell into disrepair. This time, instead of being the cause of damage to the building, local Salvationists were able to ensure its survival and renovation.

Moving to the new hall. 1977

It is now the centre for activities (along with the charity shop in Dyer Street) and, in addition to regular Sunday worship, operates a weekday parent and toddler group and is home to a Brownie group.

Sunday School 1980’s

The corps also offers elements of the social work which has always been a vital part of the role of the Salvation Army. The annual Christmas Toy Service is used to help needy families in the area and street collections are always well supported by the community.

Christmas carols in Cirencester

At the same time as keeping up with the needs and demands of modern society the Army in Cirencester is also aware of the considerable heritage of the town’s history and it has been keen to respect the building which houses its activities and the purpose for which it was constructed in 1846. Structural changes to what is a listed building, have kept the essential character of the original and its place in one of Cirencester’s most historic streets. The main hall has been preserved largely intact, while adapting the former caretaker’s cottage for office and additional meeting space has been achieved with the minimum of disruption. Most recently, the kitchen has been modernized and meeting rooms created for smaller groups to enable more flexible use of the buliding. During building work, the corps was grateful to be offered the use of the Friends Meeting House opposite, continuing a long tradition of willing assistance stretching back over 125 years.

Annual Easter United Churches March of Witness

The Salvation Army is now a long established and accepted part of the Cirencester community and, working together with other churches and organizations, hopes to be able to contribute to the spiritual and social welfare of the people of the area for many years to come.