Church of St. John, Upper Studley, Trowbridge
In the 1850s Studley was a rural community separated from Trowbridge by fields. The church building was begun in 1852 to a design of W.H. Wilkins of Trowbridge. It was his first and only building and he is buried in the churchyard. The church was largely paid for from an anonymous gift, thought to have been from Miss Waldron of Westcroft, Trowbridge, and was dedicated in September 1854. The schoolroom was built in 1856-57 and the Vicarage by 1859. The new ecclesiastical parish was formed out of Holy Trinity in 1858. The school here was very popular but it closed in 1900 when the children went to a church controlled school in nearby Southwick. From the 1920s the urban area of Trowbridge expanded westwards until it reached Studley. In 1978 the old schoolroom was sold for housing and the money helped to pay for a new church extension which involved the building of north and south transepts in a modern style, which aroused controvesy at the time. There were many other changes and the church was completed and rededicated on 22nd September 1979. The church hall was also extended. The parish registers from 1853 (christenings and burials) and 1858 (marriages), except for those in current use, are held by the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre at Chippenham.
The Parish Administrator at St. John's has informed us that the ecclesiastical parish was carved out of St.