The Peculiar People were followers of a strict puritannical form of evangelism, founded in Rochford in 1838, which swept through Essex in the Victorian era. Tee-total, soberly-dressed, they attended day-long services on Sunday where the main activity was prayer, and hymns sung without accompaniment by music. Believing in divine healing, they eschewed orthodox medicine instead putting their faith in prayer and laying on of hands. The chapel in Tillingham, completed in 1867, is one of the last remaining Peculiar chapels (43 in all) to survive intact. The site is now fenced off and overgrown, probably awaiting conversion to residential flats.