A Brief History of the Damerham Baptist Church

members of the church provided the labour and Downton Baptist Church, collapsed in the A BRIEF HISTORY materials, Rhodes himself making the pews. pulpit while preaching and died. He was OF THE The chapel was completed in 1828 at a cost of seventy-four years of age and had walked six £50. miles to attend the service. Some may DAMERHAM remember James Collins who ran an estate Rhodes ministered to the local Baptists at this agency in Fordingbridge and was a descendant BAPTIST CHURCH chapel for twenty four years. He died in 1856, of the Rev Collier. as the church records say "much beloved and C respected of all classes". Besides preaching he In 1904 three members were summoned for had founded a school, established a temperance refusing the Education Rate. Today this may society and dispensed medicines to the poor. appear a trivial issue, but at the time it was a The Civil War in the mid 17th century caused a His ministry partly coincided with that of matter of supreme importance the tremendous upheaval in English society, the another memorable man, the Rev Richard nonconformists who objected to paying the consequences of which are still with us today. Allnutt, Vicar of the Parish, who among his rate to maintain the Church of England One of the most notable features of the turmoil other achievements was responsible for the Schools. The three members had warrants of was the rise of numerous religious sects. Some establishment of the present village school. It distress levied against them and their goods worship. To all intents and purposes the twenty miles to preach in the surrounding of these were relatively short lived , but the must have been very rare for a remote parish seized and sold. Among the objectors was Baptist Church in Damerham was dead. villages. Baptists gained strength and assisted by the like Damerham to have enjoyed the parallel Herbert "Bertie" Vincent whose daughter Mrs increased mobility of the population due to the Then came William Rhodes. Rhodes was born By 1817 Rhodes had commenced studies in ministries of men of their intellectual and Hilda Jerrard now lives at Sandleheath. spiritual calibre. war they spread throughout the country. in 1792, the son of a village carpenter. His Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University. In 1906 at the age of forty Lewis Earney died, father was a violent and dissolute man who How a poor and untutored village lad from During the Civil War period Baptist churches In 1852 Henry Earney became pastor to the followed shortly after by his wife Linda. sent the young Rhodes out to work picking Damerham found himself in Scotland in the were founded by soldiers of the Parliamentary Baptist congregation, having been the assistant William E Barnes of Fordingbridge was stones and scaring crows at the age of seven. company of the greatest philosophers and armies at Salisbury and in a number of to Rhodes for number of years previously . In offered the pastorate and accepted. When he was twelve years old he began work theologians of the day is not explained, but he surrounding villages, principally at Porton, May 1863 disaster struck. Rhodes's chapel Membership was at the time around forty, but in his father's business. completed his studies in 1819 with every Downton and the Wallops. It was however was burnt to the ground together with twenty- over the next twenty years a decline set in so expectation of a brilliant career in the church. over a century later that the Baptists came from William appears not to have been a particularly nine cottages and three farms. However the that by 1930 there were fewer than ten. However, his health was not good and after a congregation proved very resilient and a the Salisbury congregation to Rockbourne and religious young man, but in 1811, influenced In 1911 William Widgery came to Damerham very serious illness in 1823 he reluctantly replacement chapel was quickly erected on the Damerham. They held services and preached by a friend who was possibly a member of the from Winchester to be inducted as the new returned home to Damerham. present site at Greenbanks at a cost of £200. in the open air with the result that a number of nearby Baptist congregation, he underwent a pastor. He did not last very long in the post. Some of the work was clearly funded by loans. village people joined them and eventually spiritual experience similar to that of Wesley in There he gathered a few cottagers and farm The Church record cryptically notes that he The records show that in 1865 £18 17s 7d was founded their own church in 1801. A meeting the previous century, who had "felt his heart servants and preached to them. A biographical was dismissed from the pastorate in 1914 and paid into the Building Fund, a not house was built at a cost of £200, although strangely warmed". Rhodes describing the note on Rhodes says that the material was most that his wife also left - the cause "sympathy inconsiderable sum bearing in mind that the unfortunately its exact location in the village is experience said "All things appeared to me in a unpromising: the people boorish, ignorant and with husband". It is not explained for what members were very poor and the highest unknown. new light: I felt most vividly concerned, depraved. However, Rhodes had what today offence Mr Widgery was dismissed. distressed, alarmed about my soul and God". we might call charisma. He encouraged his weekly collection during the 1860s was 1s 4d. It appears that the early congregation lacked Following Mr Widgery's departure, during the Moving on from the experience he became a embryonic congregation to build a place of Henry Earney was succeeded as pastor in 1895 proper leadership and in time the members Great War there was a move to group together noted preacher and evangelist who after a hard worship. The location was in the centre of the by his son Levi. The first anniversary of the drifted away, preferring to walk to Downton, the Rockbourne, Martin and Damerham week's work would sometimes walk over village at Crossways on land which is now a new pastorate was marked by tragedy. The Bowerchalke and sometimes Salisbury to Baptist Churches under the leadership of copse at the rear of the bus shelter. The Rev T J Collier, former minister of the Walter Goodenough, a young man who died at Damerham Domesday Book 2000 the age of twenty-five of consumption. Mr active service and by the end of 1942 only six For almost twenty years the Baptist Church denomination. Perhaps we should be listening early 60's when services were held on Sunday Goodenough lived with his mother in a cottage remained. was largely run by the very experienced out. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the afternoons and the organ was occasionally where now stands the former village post triumvirate of Percy Nicklen, John Leakey and Spirit saith to the churches" (Rev 2 v 9). played by Graham Colbourne. Mr & Mrs At this time the Church Treasurer was one office (opposite the Methodist Church). The George Colbourne. Unfortunately, all of these Dyer, Mrs Spranklin and Mrs R. Sims were Arthur White. Mr White was by all accounts a garden contained a hut in which Walter lived to leaders passed away within seven years around regular attenders at that time. distant relative of the local family of that name. relieve his illness. The chapel contains his the late 1960s and early 1970s and it was He had visited Damerham for a number of THE DAMERHAM memorial plaque. difficult to see how they could be replaced. years. He was a well-known artist and CONGREGATIONAL In the early 1920s John Butcher, who lived at cartoonist who had created the "Chick", the However, Derek Jerrard who had been in CHAPEL Frogham, assumed the leadership. The 1920s main character in a popular children's comic membership with the Fordingbridge appear to have been a time when attempts were "Chicks Own". He also painted a mural of Congregational Church agreed to take over the C made to bring the Damerham Baptists into the Robinson Crusoe for the Great Ormond Street pastorate. With his appointment the wheel mainstream of the life of the denomination. Hospital. Some of Arthur White's work still turned full circle, since he was directly The ministers of the church at Salisbury and exists, principally the "Good Samaritan" and descended from Henry Earney, Rhodes's The Congregational Chapel was built in 1807 Downton encouraged the local members to crayon drawings from scenes in Pilgrim's assistant and successor. and up until the 1930's had regular services on It is thought the Chapel closed finally in about accept pastoral oversight from Downton, but Progress. In each of these he used local people a Sunday evenings. In the late 30's until well Derek Jerrard relinquished the pastorate in 1965 when the large monkey puzzle tree in the this was rejected. They replied that they were as models. after the Second World War it was closed and 1987. John Avery, a well respected Methodist front of Goesmere Cottage was cut down. The quite happy with John Butcher. Another for a time was "home" to British soldiers who In 1946 when the Church Roll was revived it local preacher who had served both the Chapel was later converted into a house as it controversy at the time concerned relations were billeted there. Mrs Annie Nation, who was found that very little recovery had been Damerham Baptist and Methodist Churches for still is today and known as "Chapel Cottage", with the Baptist Union.

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