West End Baptist Church, Westbury

In 1669 Anabaptists were meeting in the house of Roger Cutter in Westbury; this meeting was an offshoot of the early Baptist chapel at Southwick. Eventually two Baptist chapels were built in Westbury Leigh but there was not one in the town itself. Early in the 19th century there was a need for a chapel close to the town centre and in 1825 the recently built Cook's Stile Meeting House was acquired by the Baptists and a group of about ten people formed a church. By 1829 there was a congregation of 180 which was served by visiting ministers until 1839 when the first minister for the chapel was appointed. A schoolroom was added in 1853 and a baptistry in 1859. Until then baptisms often took place in the Bitham Brook. In 1868 a new chapel, seating 350, was built in West End on the site of the old chapel and schoolroom. The chapel continues to serve Westbury and the congregation is growing in size at the turn of the 21st century.