Rushden Research Group: Churches St Mark's

Article adapted from St Peter's Jubilee programme and a later newsclip

St Mark's Church

After closure as a church this building was for sometime used as a nursery school

St Mark's Church in Highfield Road

In 1936 a new hall was built in Highfield Road as a Mission Hall for St Peter’s Church, when the Reverend P B Spriggs was vicar there. It is built of brick, erected according to the plans of Mr. Paul J. J. Panter, and was built by Mr. Robert Marriott. The design of the hall is in the form of a letter "T". It consists of a main hall capable of seating about 300 people, and has a platform at the further end approached by three steps. Behind the corridor at the rear of the platform is a large assembly room capable of division into two class-rooms by the use of folding doors. The Hall has kitchen accommodation and cloak rooms. This building was dedicated by the Right Rev. Bishop Blagden on the twenty-ninth anniversary of the consecration of the Parish Church of St. Peter. At this ceremony, accompanying the Diocesan, was the Right Rev. Bishop Lang, Archdeacon of Oakham, in whose Archdeaconry the parish is situated. That day was both dark and dreary, and at the dedication the Bishop said: "It is a dark December day, but in this place are light and hope for the future." Then, on October 10th, 1954, the Hall was hallowed and renamed by the late Bishop Spencer Leeson, at a service attended by 100 people. The Reverend E T Hughes said he would conduct “Holy Communion on the last Sunday of each month” at St Mark’s and it would also be used for funeral services and baptisms.

Extract from the 1957 Golden Jubilee Programme:

St Mark's Church - New furnishings were acquired, which included a very fine carved Holy Table and Reredos, Pulpit, Communion Rails and Kneelers.

The Holy Table and Reredos, a gift from Sister Branch, our late lady worker.

The Credence Table, which was formerly the Holy Table when it was Highfield Hall, was a gift from a devoted Mother and is suitably inscribed.

St Mark's was closed in 1980, and the congregation joined St Peter's Church. The building was sold, and is now a day nursery.

25^th March 1988

Go-ahead for bigger nursery

A DAY nursery in Rushden is to be expanded to take in more children.

The go-ahead was given by East Northamptonshire planners last night for the first floor area of a house in Grove Road to be used for additonal day nursery facilities.

The number of children attending the nursery could now be increased from 40 to 50.

In a report to the committee, the council's director of technical services Bob Seery said it provided a much-needed facilitv in the area.

Meanwhile a playgroup in another part of town is having to close down because the church hall it used is being knocked down.

Councillors agreed that St Mark's Church Hall, in Highfield Road, Rushden should be knocked down to make way for a house or flat with the loss of the Highfield Road playground which has been using the hall for its meetings on four mornings a week.

Five letters of protest had been received by the council from people objecting to the demolition of the church hall on the grounds that it would mean the loss of the playgroup.

The committee was told the Parochial Church Council had been concerned about the cost of the upkeep of the church hall.

Mr Seery said it was a fact of life that with property prices rising so high everyone with land was making the most of it to sell at the best price.