ABSTRACT
Vineyard Congregational Church at Richmond-upon-Thames had been founded in 1830 and the handsome, grey brick building, designed by John Davies, opened a year later. It is sited adjacent to a Roman Catholic church, dedicated to St Elizabeth, in a side road off Hill Rise, called The Vineyard. The Catholic church had itself been opened for worship, only a few years before its neighbour, in 1824.1 Both churches, therefore, bear witness to the expansion of the local population at the beginning of the nineteenth century in this part of what was then rural Surrey, but which was close to the heart of the capital city. Only a few years later, with the coming of the railways, 5LFKPRQGZRXOGÀQGLWVHOIHYHQPRUHDFFHVVLEOHWR/RQGRQ
The Vineyard Congregational Church had been unsuccessful LQLWVDWWHPSWVWRÀQGDPLQLVWHUHDUO\LQ(OVLH·VLPPHGLDWH SUHGHFHVVRUDVPLQLVWHUKDGEHHQ(GZDUG7DLW.LUE\² ZKRKDGOHIW1HZ&ROOHJH/RQGRQLQDQGKDGSDVWRUDWHVLQ Southport, Whetstone, Havant, and Egham Hill from which he had IRUPDOO\UHWLUHGLQ+RZHYHUDIWHUWKLVUHWLUHPHQWKHIXOÀOOHG DSDUWWLPHPLQLVWU\ÀUVWDW:HVW.HQVLQJWRQ²DQGWKHQ DW WKH9LQH\DUG5LFKPRQG² IROORZLQJ WKH UHVLJQDWLRQ RI WKH \RXQJ:HOVK WKHRORJLDQ'DQLHO 7 -HQNLQV ² whose brief but scholarly ministry at Richmond had lasted from ²ZKHQKHKDGDFFHSWHGDSRVWZLWKWKH6WXGHQW&KULVWLDQ Movement. Although elderly, Kirby remained a live wire, playing JROIXQWLOKHZDVDQGOLYLQJWREH\HDUVROG3ULRUWR-HQNLQV· arrival, the church had spent several years without a minister.2
