Baffins Hall Chapel, or Meeting House as it was called in its earlier years, was built between 1672 and 1680.  A Presbyterian Chapel had been built in Eastgate Square in 1671 but due to the size of the congregation, this second chapel soon followed in what is now known as Baffins Lane.

In 1721 the chapel buildings, which until then had been privately owned by George and Elizabeth Carver, members of the congregation, were purchased for £90 by a Trust set up by the congregation.  About this time, the building underwent change.  The roof was modified and the barrel ceiling created; the round-headed windows on the East front were inserted and an entrance hall with a fine classical doorway was added.  From this hall, a new staircase rose to a gallery which also may have been an addition at this time.

The roof structure is unusual.  Externally, the building has two parallel  pitched roofs running east to west, but the internal form does not reflect this.  The columns which support the gallery continue upwards to a form of Queen post which spreads across both the parallel roofs and carries the barrel ceiling.

The layout of the pulpit and pews would have been comparable to the illustration above

showing the Jireh Chapel in Lewes, East Sussex, although just where the pulpit in Baffins Chapelwas positioned is uncertain.

The first known illustration of Baffins Hall is on a 1749 map of Chichester and had been on the site for at least 70 years.

Why Baffins?

Baffins Lane was so called in 1721 but how it had this name is unknown.  It was called Pouke Lane circa 1266.  The Biffins or Biffens were a Presbyterian family known to have lived in the area.  In 1784 a James Biffin was a cooper and in 1839 James, John and Charles Biffin were coopers, coal and timber merchants in St Pancras.  The Lane may well have been named after this local family.

Ministers of Baffins Lane Chapel

The first minister at Baffins Lane Chapel is thought to have been John Willis, licensed as a Nonconformist preacher in Chichester in 1672.  His ministry ended in 1680 when John Corbet took over.  He died in 1682 and there is then some uncertainty about the next minister's dates, but we have managed to research details on fourteen ministers up until 1886.