Non-conformists, Buttermere
There has never been a Non-conformist chapel in the village, although there are a few references to religious meetings being held in cottages, and to Buttermere villagers attending chapels elsewhere. A breakaway Methodist movement, the Primitive Methodist Connexion, evangelised the Wiltshire/Berkshire/Hampshire borders during the 1830s and registered cottage meetings at Oxenwood, Shalbourne, Bagshot and elsewhere during 1831-2. The first reference to the baptism of a Buttermere child in the Andover Primitive Methodist Circuit register occurred in 1846.
In 1864 Buttermere’s curate reported that Primitive Methodist meetings were being held in a private house in the parish, and that although there were ‘probably not more than two persons who would not come to church’, there were ‘very many more who would go to the meeting’. Three years later the curate claimed that there was no meeting house, but that many parishioners attended Methodist chapels in neighbouring villages. By the 1870s the many had reduced to a few.
In 1915 services and prayer meetings were still being held by a small congregation who met in a room in Town Farmhouse. A Sunday School was provided for the children, many of whom attended both church and chapel. The rector and the dissenters remained on friendly terms; the latter continued to use the church for their baptisms, marriages and burials.
In 1864 Buttermere’s curate reported that Primitive Methodist meetings were being held in a private house in the parish, and that although there were ‘probably not more than two persons who would not come to church’, there were ‘very many more who would go to the meeting’. Three years later the curate claimed that there was no meeting house, but that many parishioners attended Methodist chapels in neighbouring villages. By the 1870s the many had reduced to a few.
In 1915 services and prayer meetings were still being held by a small congregation who met in a room in Town Farmhouse. A Sunday School was provided for the children, many of whom attended both church and chapel. The rector and the dissenters remained on friendly terms; the latter continued to use the church for their baptisms, marriages and burials.