Moravian Church, Oxford Street, Malmesbury

The Moravian movement is the oldest free church in northern Europe, being founded in Bohemia and Moravia in 1457. In 1742 John Cennick, a follower of George Whitefield, started a religious society in Malmesbury and invited the Moravian Brethren to take charge of the congregation in 1745. He started other societies in north Wiltshire but these faded after his death in 1755 and only the Malmesbury group continued. A chapel was built in 1770 and a schoolroom added in 1860. The congregation left its chapel in the mid 1990s but continue to hold services in the old schoolroom, now the Church Hall, which they share with the Society of Friends. Registers exist for births and baptisms from 1827-1840 and for burials from 1826-1840.