Royston Road old chapel site
The small graveyard beside the Royston Road is the site of a mid-Georgian chapel built around 1770. On the Newsells estate maps of 1780 it is shown within the existing plot and identified as a Presbyterian Meeting House. Presumably it was in a poor state of repair by the 1870s, because a new chapel was constructed in the High Street, and the old chapel demolished.
Two photographs exist taken probably in the 1870’s, one from the east, and one from the west. The chapel is centrally placed, and the iron fencing and gate are clearly visible, and still in place to this day. The building is two storied and has an attached single-story outbuilding. Both this and the main structure have chimneys. There is also an entrance porch at the front.
Of the sixty or so gravestones that exist, the earliest of inscriptions is dated 1798, and the latest 1989. After the chapel was demolished burials continued until all spare ground was taken, and no capacity remained. All the graves on the old chapel’s footprint are post 1880. One-time old Barkway resident Peter Scripps used to refer to Royston Road as Meeting House Lane.