Bearfield Congregational Church, Bradford on Avon

On what is thought to have been the site of a disused cloth warehouse, the chapel was built and named Bethel Chapel. Who had it built it not known but it was opened for divine worship by the Rev. W. Norman in the year 1787, and the services were first conducted according to the form of the Church of England although the chapel was Independent. Support was not good at first and the chapel was closed and eventually sold to a Mr Posthumus Bush. The Rev. Thomas Watkins who was living in Bath and married to a wealthy lady from the West Indies then purchased the property from Mr Bush and had the minister's house built. He resided there with his wife and, being more than an ordinary preacher, it is said, a good congregation was sustained and the chapel flourished. During his ministry a gallery was added which has since been removed. Mr Watkins died in 1802 at the early age of 45 and was buried in a vault under the pulpit.

In 1805 his widow married the Rev. Joseph Rawlings, a preacher and schoolmaster from Ide, near Exeter, who continued the ministry at Bethel until his death in 1813. Mrs Rawlings died in 1816 and was buried under the pulpit, as was the Rev. Joseph Rawlings. On her death Mrs Rawlings left the chapel and house in trust to Mr Henry Stroud of Turleigh, a convert and friend of her husband, with Mr Howard, also of Turleigh as joint trustee. There is a memorial in the chapel commemorating the death of Mrs Howard and of their son.

Soon after receiving the trusteeship of Bethel, Mr Stroud was appointed one of Lady Huntingdon's trustees and, with the consent of his co-trustee, the chapel and house were handed over to her Connexion thus commencing a long period as The Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel. It was then that the three eagles were first placed in the chapel, forming the communion rail.

When the Rev. Joseph Rawlings resided at Bearfield he was often visited by his grandson, also Joseph Rawlings, who was working in Bath in the printing trade. Records show that he preached his first sermon at Bearfield at the age of 26. On the death of his grandfather he moved to Bradford with his family and started his own printing works. This was not too successful for he was often in financial difficulties and this was only solved when he was appointed Postmaster on the retirement of a Mr Johnson through ill health.

The Rev. James was at this time resident minister at the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel and on his retirement Mr Rawlings was invited by the Trustees to become their lay pastor. He moved into the minister's house in September 1847. He took over the church when the chapel was dilapidated and the congregation both small and poor. He restored the chapel but the congregation never became large. Burials were still taking place at Bearfield and three of his children died while lived there and were doubtless buried in the churchyard. Unfortunately no names are recorded of those buried there, only initials, except for one old member, Mrs Angel Watts, aged 93, a resident of the workhouse at Avoncliff. Mr Rawlings died in the year of 1866 and as burials ceased in 1858 he was buried at Bradford cemetery. Among many local ministers who assisted Mr Rawlings and whose pulpits he sometimes occupied, were the Rev. B. Wills of Holt Independent, the Rev. Jonas Lewis and Rev. P. Morrison, both of Zion, the Rev. Gear of the then Independent Chapel at Bradford and Mr White the Wesleyan minister.

In 1879 the long Witness of the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel came to a close and it was offered to the Wilts and East Somerset Congregational Union who accepted and a new trust was drawn up in 1880. Although known for many years as Huntingdon's Chapel it now became The Bearfield Congregational Church. The new minister appointed was the Rev. A. Balfour of the Silver Street chapel, residing at Trowbridge but serving both the Trowbridge chapel and Bearfield. Being used to having their own resident minister the members at Bearfield expressed their dissatisfaction at the end of six months, feeling they were being neglected and asked for different arrangements to be made. To try to right matters it was decided that Mr Balfour should take up residence at Bearfield but still have the oversight of Silver Street chapel at Trowbridge.

It is not to be wondered at, that the change of residences did not satisfy the members any more than the previous arrangement. At the end of a further six months Mr Balfour was replaced by the Rev. Sharp still having control of both churches. Whatever the difficulty was, the change must have satisfied the members, for the Rev. Sharp carried on his ministry at Bearfield for five years until 1887. No records are available after this date of who occupied the pulpit but it is fairly certain that no one occupied the minister's house after the turn of the century, and that the church was supplied by Lay Preachers. In the middle of this century the minister's house became unsafe and the top floors removed.

In 1850 the first organ was purchased by Mr Rawlings, at his own expense, costing £25, and was placed in the gallery. It was considered a good one for a country chapel and was first played for worship on Sunday, September 8th 1850.

Bearfield was for some years closely connected with the Tabernacle Church at Trowbridge (now the United Church). It did not become part of the United Reformed church in 1972, when most Congregational churches amalgamated with the Presbyterians and members have conducted their own affairs, served by members of the Lay Preachers' Association at Bath, and many friends from other local churches. The church remains an independent congregation and is again thriving with its own minister and a recently reformed Sunday School.