Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan.

  • Bryan, George
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    183/240 (page 171)
    THE VESTRY HALL. This building is situated on the south side of the King’s Road, and is nearly opposite Robert Street. The foundation stone was laid on the 12th of December, 1859. The arrange- ments for the accommodation of the public were under the superintendence of W. W. Pocock, Escj., the architect, and notwithstanding it was a very inclement day, there were at least a thousand persons present. In a bottle were deposited a suitable inscription on vellum, a list of the parish officers for the year, one copy of each of the three Annual Reports of the Vestry, a copy of the “ Metropolis Local Management Act,” with its Amendments, and of the “ Nuisances Removal Act,” and one of each of the Coins of the present Reign. The band of the Royal Military Asylum attended, and played several popular airs, which added greatly to enliven the proceedings. The following particulars are extracted from the “ Morning Advertiser,” Tuesday, December 13th, 1859, and which were inserted in the Fourth Annual Report of the Vestry, i860. The foundation stone was laid by Viscount Chelsea in due form, in the presence of Robert Hanbury, Esq., and the Hon. G. Byng, the Members for Middlesex, W. Tite, Esq., M.P., the Rev. C. Kingsley, the Rector of the Parish, the Members of the Vestry, and a large number of the influential inhabitants of the parish. The building is in the Italian style, with stone facings. The length is about 140 ft., and between 60 and 70 feet in breadth. The great hall is 64ft. in length, and 40 ft. wide, and accom- modates upwards of 1000 persons. The board room is about 45 ft. by 30. The time appointed for the ceremonial was two o’clock in the afternoon, and at half-past one o’clock the gentlemen invited to take part in the day’s proceedings assembled in the Vestry- Room of St. T.uke’s Church, and proceeded from thence to the site of the proposed building, headed by the juvenile band of the Royal Military Asylum, playing national and other appro^