Merriott Families Genealogy

Other Churches

I am awaiting input here - does anyone have any other information to offer?  Please contact Sue Osborne

Some of David Gibbs' interesting anecdotes are about church life in Merriott in the 1940s.   Have a look at Sunshine Corner and Suffer Little Children.

The following non-Anglican ministers appear in the censuses:  (For a list of Vicars of Merriott, please go to the All Saints Church page.)

The later Merriott Burials  include entries from other denominations.  
Other denominations and their Officiating Ministers include: (table in alphabetical order by name of deceased).

There were many Burial entries with the notation:  "Certified by ........" without any denomination being mentioned.  One of the more frequent names was Matthew Silas Cross.   One entry in the register is followed by this Notice of Burial:

Notice of Burial, included after entry No. 800 in the Merriott Parish Registers - Burials: 
"I, Matthew Silas Cross of Misterton, Somerset, the friend having the charge of or being responsible for the burial of Mary Loosemore of Tuncombe Farm, Crewkerne, who died at Tuncombe Farm in the parish of West Crewkerne on the 8th day of January inst., do hereby give you notice that it is intended by me that the body of the said Mary Loosemore shall be buried within the Churchyard of Merriott on Saturday the 12th day of January instant at the hour of 3 pm, without the performance in the manner prescribed by law of the service for the burial of the dead according to the rites of the Church of England, and I give this notice pursuant to the Burial Laws Amendment Act, 1880.Signed Matthew Silas Cross to the Rev. S E Percival Vicar of Merriott"

Mr Robert Gribble and the Merriott Gospel Hall

A history of the Merriott Gospel Hall can be found at:  http://www.preciousseed.org/assemblyhistories/merriot.htm
My thanks to the author, Eric Arnold, via Michael Jones,  for permission to link to the page.  Among other information, the webpage mentions the Church assisting refugees from the Spanish Civil War 1936-8.  

More information about the Gospel Hall & the Spanish refugees has been supplied by Pat Wallace, whose reminiscences of Merriott appear on the "Merriott Today" page.
" As a matter of interest we had a refugee colony from Spain in the village from 1935 - 1938 (or 39 !)     50 of them, all Protestants, who returned to Spain when the Civil War there ceased and WW 11 was about to start.    ...... Moorlands House was the mansion in which the refugees lived and Mr. Biffen was the Superintendent.   The property was  purchased for this purpose by a Mr. Petter of Petter Oil Engine fame and the basis of the Westland Aircraft Company." - Pat Wallace.

A photo of the the Refugees at Moorlands house, 1938 has been sent to me by David Gibbs:

This entry is found among the All Saints records:

# 0568 Buried 30 May 1939 Encarnacion Rodriguez-Sanchez aged 79 of Moorlands House, Merriott.  New Grave # 76. Died 28 May. Spanish Refugee. Minister: JHH Biffin, Gospel Hall (Spanish Missionary).

More from Pat Wallace:

"I don't believe that the Merriott Gospel Hall was licensed to conduct Marriages or Baptisms but the one in Crewkerne  (2 miles away ) certainly was, so adherents would have to go there for a wedding.     They didn't go in for Christenings but had adult Baptisms, by total immersion."  

(This is confirmed by Michael Jones:  "

Other Churches - Pat Wallace's remembrances

"As a matter of interest there were five places of worship in the 1940's,  the Church of England, Gospel Hall, Wesleyan Chapel, Congregational Chapel and Elim FourSquare (Aimee MacPherson was the founder of this American sect).     The social life of the village, especially for the youngsters was very much tied up with these churches and there were usually one or two 'bright hours' for us each week.
On the 'wickedness' issue [mentioned on the Merriott Gospel Hall  page] certainly when my grandparents indicated that they were moving there in 1906 they were told that it was a wicked place and that a woman could not walk safely along the main street after dark.     This was not borne out
by their experience and generally it was law-abiding for the whole of the 20th c.     I did hear however that there were some fights at the time of the General Elections in the 1920's but his didn't amount to anything very much."

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