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October 2019 October 2019
house was provided for him in Winterborne Kingston, where people flocked from
all parts to hear him. Persecution drove him to flee to London where he died in
1689. He was offered £600 a year, a princely salary in those days, if he would
conform, but he was not tempted. He was a man of unaffected piety, cheerful
temper and engaging personality.
For many years after 1662, private houses were used for meetings, one of these
being a house in Blind Street. There are few records about the church until about
1750 when the church took a lease on a building in North Street, that we now
know as the Drax Hall! The Church continued to meet there for the next 100 years
or so, but as the lease was on a limited tenure it was decided to consider the
possibility of building a new Chapel. In 1869 the only available freehold site in the
village , in Butt Lane, was purchased by Mr. James Wood of Athelhampton and
given to the church. On this site a schoolroom was built costing £400, and the
Manse also was erected costing £400. This sum was provided by J.H. Mundell
(proprietor of what became Bemister’s Shop). When the lease on the North Street
Chapel came to an end it was decided to convert the Butt Lane school room
th
into a Chapel, and this was formally opened on 9 February 1893. The North
Street Chapel was then vacated and converted into the village hall.
(Our acknowledgements and grateful thanks are due to the late Mr. Fred Pitfield,
who supplied the information contained in this historical account.)

The church has continued to be modernised and improved over the past 126
When you respond to advertisers, do please tell them you saw years. Across the top of the front wall inside the church is a beautifully painted
‘scroll’ with the words “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” ( Psalm 96:9)
their advert in this magazine - it helps them monitor the It has been there for over 100 years, and still looks as good as ever. Beneath it
hangs a large, plain wooden cross which reminds us of Jesus’ death and
effectiveness of their advert and helps us generate more resurrection. Under the floor, and usually out of sight, is the baptistery. This is a
advertising revenue!! large oblong pool that is used to baptise believers in Jesus by full immersion. The
tiles on the floor of the pool also reveal a cross. Of these visible symbols of the
Christian faith the cross is the most important. Jesus came to this earth and lived
for 33 years to teach, and to show us what God was like, how much He loved us,
but also how much our sin (that is all our wrong thoughts and actions) has
separated us from God. When Jesus died on the cross He paid the price for the
sin of the world and provided a way of forgiveness for us. Our part is to
acknowledge that we need forgiveness so that our relationship with God can be
restored. There is a familiar verse in the Bible that says, “God so loved the world
that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish
but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Have you responded to God’s amazing
love by committing your life to Him?
As a church we are grateful to God for the thousands of people who have been
part of sharing the good news about Jesus during the 357 years of its existence.
We pray it will continue for many years to come.
As part of our work in the village, we have appointed a young man, John
Williams, as a youth worker and evangelist. John and his wife Joanna, and two

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