Galeed Strict Baptist Chapel (also known as Galeed Chapel) is a Strict Baptist place of worship in the North Laine area of Brighton, part of the English seaside city of Brighton and Hove. It was built in 1868 in an "austere Neoclassical" style for members of a newly formed church who had been worshipping in a hired building nearby since seceding from another chapel elsewhere in Brighton in 1867 as a result of doctrinal differences. The chapel, which has changed little since it opened, remains in use by Gospel Standard Strict Baptists and is the only such place of worship remaining in the city. It is situated in a conservation area and is a locally listed building. People associated with Galeed Chapel include the founders of the Evangelical Library and the Gospel Standard Baptist Library, several editors of the Gospel Standard magazine, and the author of a definitive history of the Strict Baptist movement. Regular services are held on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Name
Galeed is a Biblical name based on a Hebrew word meaning "heap of witness". In the Book of Genesis chapter 31, it is used to refer to a pile of stones built to commemorate a peace agreement between Jacob and his relative Laban. The name was chosen by Henry White, the chapel's first pastor.
Background
Protestant Nonconformism was a significant feature of the religious life of East Sussex from the 17th century—in particular a local form of Calvinist doctrine "explicitly rooted in 16th-century puritanism". In Brighton, the largest town, several Strict Baptist and independent Calvinistic causes were founded in the 18th and 19th centuries, all of which could trace their origins back to one of two older churches: Salem Chapel (1766) and Providence Chapel (1805). Salem Chapel on Bond Street in the North Laine district was formed when some members of Bethel Strict Baptist Chapel, Wivelsfield were sent to offer assistance to a group of Calvinistic Baptists who wanted to found a church in Brighton. A permanent chapel was built in 1787, rebuilt in 1861 and survived until 1974, having closed two years earlier. Providence Chapel, an independent Calvinistic cause on nearby Church Street, was founded by a former curate of St Nicholas Church who had seceded from the Church of England and met the Calvinistic preacher William Huntington, who helped him to found the new chapel.
A chapel called The Tabernacle opened on West Street in 1834 for seceders from Salem Chapel. It was independent Calvinistic in character, and struggled after the death in 1840 of its first pastor. In 1847, John Grace—who had originally moved to Brighton to work at Hanningtons department store—took over as pastor. Grace, born in Eastbourne and baptised at Rehoboth Chapel, Pell Green, was an "open communion" Calvinistic Baptist who held less narrow views on the doctrine of baptism than the Strict Baptists (to whom "baptism is the door to the church and communion [should be] confined to those who are members"—a position also known as "closed communion"). Although employed in commerce, he had experience as a Baptist preacher: in Eastbourne he had held meetings at his house and then in a chapel built alongside a bakery he owned. He had been invited to preach at Providence Chapel for the first time on 7 February 1836, and soon became a regular preacher there, embarking upon "a ministry of increasing usefulness". In 1847, John Vinall—the pastor of Jireh Chapel, Lewes who also had pastoral oversight of Providence Chapel—"wished to make other arrangements for the ministry", so Grace decided to leave. His appointment at The Tabernacle led to a significant upturn in the chapel's fortunes: later in 1847 it had to be extended to accommodate 900 people. Some of the new members moved from Providence Chapel with him.