Baptist Tabernacle 2 Springfield Road Blackpool

In the latter half of the nineteenth century the Baptists had built a church and Sunday school in Abingdon Street, Blackpool. This site and buildings were purchased by the Post Office in 1903, the Baptists obtaining a new site in Springfield Road. Here they built a replacement church, opened on the 1st of March 1906.

Not until 1907 was the former Baptist Tabernacle on Abingdon Street demolished. Since its closure, its Sunday school had been used as a temporary branch Post Office. Blackpool Head Post office opened in 1910.  The delay in demolition would suggest that as a part of the purchase agreement, the Post Office had agreed to design and build a new Baptist Tabernacle before the original church was closed. The architect for the new church was stated as W T Oldrieve. Given his position in the Ministry of Works at the time, he probably took little or no active part in the design, employing Charles Albert Hindle to carry out the commission. Hindle is known to have been employed for a time in the Manchester office of the Ministry of Works before commencing private practice, probably when Oldrieve was in charge.

CHECK ‑ Further research required to verify. No evidence found to support any form of formal partnership between Oldrieve and Hindle.