Saint John's Street
The renaissance of Catholicism was slow to arrive in Woodbridge. In 1770 there was only one Roman Catholic living in the town out of a population of 2331. By 1801 there were 4 in a population of 3020 and the town remained strongly anti-Catholic. The bells of St. Mary’s, Woodbridge, were pealed in protest when the Catholic Emancipation Act was passed in 1829.
By 1929 the number of Roman Catholics in the town had increased significantly. The dioceses responded by purchasing a former Public Lecture Hall and converting it into St Thomas of Canterbury Roman Catholic Church.
In 1812 a soldier drummer of the Lincolnshire Regiment, who was also a Methodist local preacher, was granted permission to hold services in the Woodbridge barracks. Later, services were held in two hired rooms in the town. Then, in 1829, a chapel was built in Brook Street. It is now a private residence (No. 20) having been replaced, in 1872, by the chapel on St John’s Street.
When the new Methodist Chapel was opened it could seat 350. The interior of the church was subdivided, in 1963, to form a school room and a smaller sanctuary. Further changes were made in 1972 and then, in 1990, a new church hall was built on the side and it was thereby possible to bring the sanctuary back to its original size.
