Non-Conformity

There were three dissenters in the parish in 1676, probably Anabaptists. The return submitted in 1783 to the Bishop’s visitation queries stated that there were no dissenters in the parish. A house was certified in 1795 for Independent meetings, as were others in 1798 and 1811 for Baptist meetings. No chapel was ever built in Winterbourne Stoke.

In the return to the Bishop’s visitation queries for 1864, the vicar estimated there were 12 Baptists and 12 Wesleyan Methodists in the parish. There were no chapels in neighbouring Berwick St James; the most likely place for the residents to go would have been Shrewton. The 1864 source mentions both Baptist and Wesleyan Methodist meeting houses at Shrewton, with an estimated total congregation of 200.