Baptist Chapel, Semley
In c.1817 Knoyle became a focus of the attention of the Joseph Mitchell, pastor of the Baptist Church at Warminster, for its 'immoral and destitute condition'. Joseph Mitchell's student, John Fleming, took up his ministry there and subsequently extended his activities to Semley where services were held at the cottage of John and Elizabeth Gray. In 1823 a chapel was built and the first pastor, George Shell, was inducted the following year. An early school was based in chapel premises in the first half of the 19th century. In 1880 the burial ground was extended. The church flourished and its records note that in 1885 some 500 people gathered on the Common to welcome the Rev. John Stanley of Spurgeon's College as their new pastor. In the same year the church affiliated with the Baptist Union and in 1905 a Manse was built. The church celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1967 and closed in 1967.
Church meeting minutes, articles of faith and memoranda, interspersed with notes of burials and deaths, survive for the period 1824-1914. Membership lists survive for the period 1824-1938; registers of marriages and burials for dates from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century also survive and are available for consultation at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre in Chippenham.
Church meeting minutes, articles of faith and memoranda, interspersed with notes of burials and deaths, survive for the period 1824-1914. Membership lists survive for the period 1824-1938; registers of marriages and burials for dates from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century also survive and are available for consultation at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre in Chippenham.