Brown Street Particular Baptist Church, Salisbury

A connection between the Salisbury Independents and Baptists in Amsterdam may explain the establishment of a General Baptist congregation in the city by 1626. Other groups of Baptists were active during the 17th century and the early Baptist church at Porton, covering Salisbury and many villages, was established in 1655. In 1690 the Salisbury Baptists organised from Porton broke away from the mother church and became independent. Walter Penn was their first minister and this seems to have been the origin of the Brown Street congregation. The first chapel in Brown Street was erected by 1719 and it was rebuilt and registered in 1750. The chapel was supported by local farmers and tradespeople.

Henry Phillips, the pastor from 1766-1779,opened a free school and at one time was teaching 150 children to read, write and do accounts. During his pastorship the congregation increased to between 200 and 300. He was followed by John Saffery, who was pastor for 50 years. During his time the congregation continued to increase and it became necessary to build a bigger chapel. This was built in 1829 with 250 free sittings and 550 others. Soon after opening there were 210 church members and a congregation of 600. In 1851 336 people were recorded as being at evening service and the congregation seems to have been a fairly wealthy one. There were alterations to the classrooms in 1882 bringing the number up to 24 and in 1889 there were 440 Sunday School pupils. However the number of children declined greatly from the 1890s to the 1920s but the church membership remained fairly constant at between 230-285. From the early 19th century the church had been responsible for a number of village stations, such as Bodenham, Coombe Bisset , Porton and Winterslow, and these were maintained.

Electric lighting was installed in the chapel in the early 1920s and there was a major reconstruction of the whole building in 1935 with a complete renovation and redecoration. The chapel was re-opened in April 1936. After the Second World War there was a steady growth in membership which reached 270 in 1954. The 1960s saw a number of lay preachers conducting worship in village churches. In the late 1980s the chapel underwent a complete recontruction which resulted in the provision of a book shop and a coffee shop; there was a formal re-opening ceremony on 20th January 1990. By 1993 all debts of the £302,000 project had been cleared. The name of the church is now Salisbury Baptist Church.