General Baptist Chapel, Downton

The earliest gatherings of Baptists seem to have taken place in the 1650s on the downs above Wick. These were held at night for fear of discovery and persecution. It is believed that some of these Baptists were returned religious exiles from Amsterdam but by 1662 several Downton tradesmen, led by Peter Coles, a tanner, were among the local congregation. Traditionally the date 1666 is quoted for the founding of the church in a cottage in Gravel Close, where later a chapel was built. This was unusual in that it was a General Baptist chapel, probably because of the Amsterdam connection, and it became the centre for local Baptist groups. By 1699 membership had decreased to 13 but at that point Benjamin Miller became the minister and he so invigorated the congregation that they grew and prospered. Miller remained as leader until 1743 and was in touch with the General Baptist Assembly in 1701, wrote the only known General Baptist catechism in 1703, and oversaw the building of a new chapel in 1715.

Following a national trend they became Unitarian in 1734 and a group of Particular Baptists seceded and established a chapel in South Lane. There was no regular leader after 1743 and the congregation fell to about 40 people. There were financial problems in the latter part of the 18th century when endowment funds were withheld but these were restored by the Court of Chancery in 1799. In 1804 they joined the New Connexion and in 1835 a new chapel was built in Gravel Close replacing the 1715 building. In the 1851 religious census three services on Census Sunday were attended by 222 people. They were reunited with the Particular Baptists in 1894 but continued to use the chapel in Gravel Close until about 1939. The chapel was then closed and the congregation moved to join the South Lane congregation. The chapel became a hall, was later used for band practice and is now a nursery school, pictured here.