Wallingford : Baptist Church

This modest meeting house is home to a church with many young families and has been modernised over time to provide flexible spaces. It has always had an underfloor baptistery for the immersion of believers (which is believed to drain to the ancient Town Gutter). The interior walls have memorials to the founder and his family members who are buried in brick vaults below the sanctuary floor. Some original Victorian window glass remains. Recent renovation of the south wall has revealed the garden wall on which the chapel was erected.

The schoolroom may have its origins as a carriage stable, but is now hemmed in by adjacent houses making maintenance somewhat complex. A northern side passage for access has an embedded wall gravestone from the early 19th century to the Venimore family.

Cooperation of the Baptist church with the trustees of St Peter’s Church across the street has meant that the lack of vestry and toilet facilities in the latter for its concerts and occasional services has been overcome.