Eldad Hill

John Hawker served as a curate for some thirty years at Stoke Damerel Church. In 1828, Thomas Williamson, who had been the rector there since 1791, died. Because there had been a long running dispute between the, often absentee, rector and Sir John St Aubyn, in whose family the living of the church was vested, William John St Aubyn was swiftly appointed in his place and Hawker, “the un-offending curate”, was dismissed. This left Hawker, who had seen this troubled parish through the trials of the Napoleonic Wars, out in the cold (it is estimated that he must have buried 30,000 corpses in his time there).

Not surprisingly he had built up a loyal following and they soon raised the then huge amount of 3,000 towards building a new chapel for him. Opened in 1830, this was Eldad Chapel (Eldad meaning quite literally “favoured of God”). Here he preached until his death in 1846.

The following year Hawker’s now empty chapel was adapted to form the foundation for the church of the newly created parish of St Peter’s. The name Eldad meanwhile is preserved in the name of the road running from Millbridge, Stoke, towards the old chapel.