Bishopsdown Baptist Church, Salisbury

From the mid 1950s there was a perceived need for a new church at Bishopsdown to serve the growing community there. Opinion at the Brown Street Baptist Church was divided but they finally voted for a new church in a meeting of 1956. The work was led by a Baptist deaconess, Sister Margaret Smith, and the new chapel was opened on 4th March 1959. Sister Smith led the church until 1963 and in 1964 the Rev. Ruth Vinson shared an assistant ministry between Brown Street and Bishpsdown. Between 1967 and 1973 worship was conducted by students from Bristol Baptist College and from 1979-1985 it was led by former missionary, Dr John Carrington.