Frederick Tryon

The Rev Frederick Tryon, decided rather late in the day that he could not accept the Church of England's ancient teaching regarding infant baptism and he took drastic action by ordering building materials for the construction of a new chapel. As the building went up in Bridge Street (Bourne, Lincolnshire) on a site overlooking the River Welland, his parishioners thought at first that a new vicarage was intended but eventually discovered that it was a Particular Baptist foundation and it was opened the following year. On 18th December 1840, a local newspaper reported a mass baptism by total immersion of Baptist members in the River Welland that excited tremendous interest in the neighbourhood.

The Reverend Tryon had seceded from the Church of England and had become a dissenter and Miss Florence Day, in her book History of the Deepings, records that he was a remarkable man in many respects who not only started his own school but also stuck to his little church, his active connection only ceasing on his death in 1903 when in his 90th year although long after that, his daughter could be seen going about her business around the Deepings on her tricycle. The chapel has recently been sold and tastefully converted for use as a private house but a stone tablet over the main door bearing the opening date 1839 and the Latin motto Cave Adullam or Beware of Flattery has been retained.