History

We are a well-established church and have been previously been blessed with several able and gracious pastors. We are currently without a pastor but have a consistent supply of itinerant ministers.

The present chapel was built in 1873 on the site of a predecessor which had opened some years before, possibly as early as the late 18th century or or early 19th century. The first chapel was built at the junction of West Street and South Street; the 1851 religious census gives 1801 as the date of foundation.

It was independent and Calvinistic in style, and the chapel built by a local man, Mr Stone, as a "preaching place" for a minister called William Burch who had previously ministered in Staplehurst, Kent. The terms of Stone's will required the chapel "to be maintained until the death of Burch". Burch died in 1863, and the chapel was closed; it was then put up for sale in June 1865. 

A local man who wished to see the chapel reopened, bought it for £85 and called Eli Page to the ministry. Page's theological views changed over the next few years: initially denominationally independent, he became a Baptist in 1871 and constituted a church along those lines in the same year.

A baptistery was constructed in 1871,but the old chapel was structurally unsound and had to be dismantled. Some land next to the chapel was available, so the building was rebuilt on a larger scale and reopened on 9 May 1873. It is a plain Vernacular building with a rendered façade and a date-stone in the gable. It is still our chapel building to this day.

After Eli Page's 41 year ministry ended,  Caleb Sawyer was called to the Pastorate and stayed for 43 years until his death, afterwhich Phillip Kinderman was the pastor. The Church has had no pastor since 2010 when Mr Kinderman passed away. 

The Chapel has historically been associated with the 'Strict Baptist' denomination. The term “strict” (from restricted) means we believe that it is biblical that only those who have been baptised can partake at the communion table. Strict Baptists as a denomination trace their history in this country back to the early 1600s.