Baptist Chapel, Westwood

Originally starting out as a handful of friends meeting in various cottages around the village, Westwood’s Baptist community flourished and in 1865 a chapel on the Main Street in Lower Westwood was opened. Before this chapel was opened, many services took place in the house of a man named John Godwin (from around 1814), and another meeting house was recorded in 1817 in the house of William Fisher. However, these meeting houses didn’t have sufficient room to cater for all the people attending the services. And so, after donations of land and money, the new chapel was eventually built.

The chapel was one of three others in the area affiliated with the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Trowbridge, one of the largest in the West Country, (other than the churches at Bristol or Plymouth). This led to the congregation of the church being made of up members from the main church in Trowbridge, as well as others who were connected with the affiliate church also.

A Sunday school was opened in the new chapel in 1871, however with numbers still growing this proved insufficient and work began on a new schoolroom in the early 1880’s. The room was opened in 1885, and was about twice the size of the chapel itself, and could house around 200 children. This room was also used for larger events and special occasions in the church.

After the Second World War, the Sunday school room was used as the infant school in the village, and was still used as the school until the new school, Westwood-with-Iford primary school, was opened. The chapel was sold after the war, and by 1978 the chapel itself was being used as a studio, and the schoolroom was being used as a store.