In the village of Yelvertoft, which has a population of between six and seven hundred inhabitants, there is a neat Independent Chapel, capable of accommodating near four hundred persons, situated about the centre of the village, with school-rooms adjoining. Passing on to a rather lower part of the village, on the opposite side may be observed a respectable dwelling-house, with garden and orchard, which is the residence of the Independent minister. To be able to go back to the commencement, and trace the onward progress of such a cause, thus situated, must be especially gratifying to those who are now connected with it, while it might be gratifying to all who take an interest in the things that relate to the kingdom of Christ and the highest welfare of men. It is not more than sixty years since the present Chapel was erected, an Independent minister regularly settled as pastor, and a Church formed on Congregational principles; but in the early part of the last century, occasional services were conducted here by Dissenting ministers, chiefly from Welford, where those residing in Yelvertoft who dissented from the Established Church were in the habit of attending. In the book containing the records of the Church, we find an account of the earliest efforts made by Nonconformists in this village, and how they led on to the formation of the present interest. This account we shall now present to the reader. Some time before any attempt at all was made to introduce the preached Gospel into this place, and also during the time that the weekly lectures only were enjoyed, a few persons were in the habit of going to Welford (about five miles distant), where they could attend that mode of worship which appeared to them most agreeable to the word of God; and there can be little doubt that it was at the suggestion of some of them that the preaching of the Gospel here was commenced. When this took place (which must be now, if it occurred in the time of Mr. Norris, who died in 1738, nearly one hundred and twenty years ago),[8] a private house was licensed, to afford the minister at Welford an opportunity to preach a week-day lecture. It is probable, though difficult to ascertain with certainty, that Mr. Norris, of Welford, was the first that ever preached the Gospel in this place amongst Dissenters. His service consisted of a monthly lecture on a Tuesday afternoon, which was continued by his successor, the Rev. Samuel King. The number that usually attended on these occasions was between twenty and thirty, composed in part of the revered ancestors of those families that form no small part of the present congregation. [8] Some alteration has been made in the account here, to bring it to an agreement with the present date, 1852.