AN historic Exmoor chapel is being ‘reborn’ with its congregation developing exciting ideas for the future.

Members of Dulverton Congregational Church, which had been closed for several years until early this year, have been working with a new team to reopen the building.

Church members have been meeting monthly in the hall this year and will on Sunday, September 21, invite local residents to celebrate the first Harvest Festival for many years, followed by a light harvest supper.

Congregational Federation president the Rev Caroline Stott will inspect the work on October 19 and lead a special rededication service.

The church team has been ensuring the safety of the building in Chapel Street and laying out plans for its future.

Local craftspeople will be at work during the autumn repairing and replacing windows, repainting the property, and making it and the associated manse building weatherproof and generally brightening up the site.

They will be using much of the original Victorian glass and many of the original colours after Exmoor National Park Authority gave planning permission in June for the window replacements.

The poor condition of the first floor windows in the chapel’s Sunday school rooms had been a safety hazard and was restricting access to a side path.

Professional investigators who examined the floor of the main hall, which was believed to be rotten, found instead that it had new wood and damp proofing.

The church, built in 1831 and known in the town as ‘the chapel’, is closely associated with the Victorian philanthropist and Dulverton native Sir George Williams, who founded the YMCA.

Sir George, who was born and raised on a farm outside Dulverton, had a ‘Dick Whittington-type story’, heading off to London to make his fortune.

He became a Congregationalist and one of the greatest Victorian philanthropists and is buried in St Paul’s Cathedral.

In the late 1800s, he funded the building of the hall and Sunday school rooms as an extension to the 1831 Dulverton building together with a new manse.

Church deacon David Perry said: “We are on the same page as Exmoor National Park in wanting to tell the story of this historic building, the people associated with it, such as George Williams, and the non-conformist Christians who played such a huge part in developing modern Britain, all this as part of Dulverton’s terrific heritage offer.

“Our ideas are still developing but have attracted a lot of interest from around the country.”

New church secretary Jonathan Hunt, a former Free Press reporter, said: “There is still quite a bit to do, particularly to reopen the magnificent main 1831 chapel building.

“We agreed to take it step by step and the first step to was to ensure we have a live church community serving Dulverton and Jesus Christ, as the church has done for nearly 200 years.

“All are welcome to join us at our monthly gatherings.

“That it has been possible to reopen is down to the many volunteers who have kept it going even in difficult times.”