Until 1931, the districts of Crabtree and Laira were included in the ecclesiastical parish of Egg Buckland. Before 1874, parishioners who wished to fulfil their religious duties had to walk the two miles to the parish church. Recognising the need for local provision, Bishop Frederick Temple licensed a newly erected school-chapel at Crabtree for Divine Service in 1874. This marked the beginning of organised worship within the community itself.
The building, which cost about £800, was funded jointly by the War Department, who provided the site and £50, the Church Building Society, who contributed £30, and by public subscription. The architect was Mr A. G. Clifton and the builder Mr T. Hoskin of St Budeaux. The chapel was opened on Wednesday, November 11th, 1874, with a service of Holy Communion. At Evensong on the same day, Archdeacon Earle—later Bishop of Marlborough and Dean of Exeter—preached to the assembled congregation.
The Crabtree Mission Church was never consecrated, being built for the dual purpose of school and chapel. It was licensed for the administration of Holy Communion on condition that the eastern portion was reserved solely for divine service. From 1901, it was used exclusively for religious purposes, with services held every Sunday evening. The building was described as plain but substantial, serving faithfully for decades as the spiritual centre of the hamlet.
When first opened, a debt of £200 remained from construction costs. To help clear this, fundraising events were organised, including a sale of work at the Royal Hotel in Plymouth in July 1876, which raised just over £30, and another at Crabtree which realised £21. Additional funds later allowed for the purchase of a harmonium organ, removed from the Freemasons’ Hall in 1878, enhancing worship in the mission church.
With the building and consecration of St Mary’s Church, Laira, on 2nd July 1914, the use of the Crabtree Mission Church came to an end. Just weeks later, on 8th August 1914, the building was commandeered “in the King’s name” and occupied by 143 men of the East Lancashire Regiment. Afterwards, it was used as a store until the 1950s and was finally demolished in 1971 during the road widening programme.
The site of the former mission church lay close to where the petrol filling station now stands, across from the railway lines, looking over toward Saltram. Though the building itself has gone, its legacy remains as the first step in providing local worship for the growing communities of Crabtree and Laira, paving the way for the later establishment of St Mary’s Church.
According to the back of the photograph of the altar below it says that it is from Crabtree used in the Chapel of Repose. (Mr Stanley Blatchford was the Undertaker) Whoever wrote on the photograph says that they remembered seeing it when their father was resting there.
