Congregational Church of England and Wales

The Craven Chapel was opened in 1822 on part of the site of the former Carnaby Market. The project was financed by Thomas Wilson, a retired merchant who from 1799 onwards had devoted himself to the building and repair of Congregational chapels. Wilson particularly wished to open a chapel in the Westminster area, and in 1821 he obtained a site from Lord Craven. The foundation stone of the chapel was laid in March 1822 and the building was opened for worship on 11 December 1822.

A Congregational church was formed on 25 April 1823, but no permanent minister was called and for the next eight years the congregation was served by visiting preachers. In May 1831 the Reverend John Leifchild was appointed as minister of the chapel. During his ministry the Craven Chapel attracted a large congregation, many of the members living 'scattered over half London'. Leifchild retired in 1854, but the congregation appears to have remained fairly numerous under his immediate successors, for early in 1874 a lecture hall and schools were opened on the north side of Foubert's Place. These were planned to replace the basement school-rooms which were part of the original chapel plan. Work was begun in the spring of 1873.

By 1894, however, the congregation seems to have felt that it could no longer continue in the area and the leases of both the Craven Chapel and Craven Hall were assigned to the West London Mission of the Methodist Church. Four years later the lease of the chapel expired, and the building was converted into a stable for the Lion brewery in Broad(wick) Street. In 1907 the West London Mission sold the lease of the hall to Messrs. Liberty. The hall is now used as a warehouse, and the chapel for industrial purposes.

From: 'Marshall Street Area', Survey of London: volumes 31 and 32: St James Westminster, Part 2 (1963), pp. 196-208.