Baptist Chapel, Stert

The Trustees of the New Baptist Chapel in Sheep Street, Devizes bought the Methodist Chapel in Stert for use as a village chapel under the Devizes chapel. A building, occupied by Charles Wiltshire, in Stert had been licensed as a Baptist meeting house in 1831 and it seems most likely that a group of Baptist remained in the village and travelled to Devizes to attend chapel. There appears to be little in the minute of Devizes chapel meetings that refers to Stert but it appears that a substantial number of villagers were Baptists and some of these must have been reasonable well off as often surplus funds from Stert were transferred to Devizes for such work as roof repairs on the town chapel.

There was a Sunday school at the chapel, one of six in the Devizes Sunday School Union, held in a schoolroom and it seems to have been active and successful. According to a document of 1957 from the Charity Commissioners there was also a burial ground attached to the chapel. Like many non-conformists chapels Stert was affected by changes brought about by the Second World War and numbers of chapel goers fell; at one service there was only three people in the chapel. Efforts were made to improve the situation and a deacon was appointed to the chapel but to no avail and in 1957 the chapel was closed. After problems, such as all the trustees being dead, the Wilts and East Somerset Baptist Association was able to sell the chapel and 13 perches of land in 1957; the price was set at £400. The property was bought by a Potterne builder who extended and renovated it converting it into a domestic dwelling now known as Maitland.