St Thomas a Becket
Warblington, Hampshire
This is a real refuge from the hurly burly. Parts of the original Saxon church can be made out in the tower, and there is much else of interest both inside and outside.
Much history is coming to light, including a forgotten Dissenters Grave Yard. This is part of an acre of land donated to the town for burials, on the understanding that 1/4 acre was to be ‘Set Aside for Dissenters’. The church roots reach back to 1662 and the Great Ejection.
This late Victorian Building is a typical non conformist building with two prominent memorials on the walls. One to Revd Scamp, minister for 43 years from 1803, his training was at Dr Bogue's Academy in Gosport he started the London Missionary Society. The other is to Revd J Wells who left Havant to become Secretary of the Congregational Union in England and Wales at the beginning of the 1900s.
Many prominent townspeople populated the church from the early beginnings in 1662 when a local Rector was ejected for 'preaching non-conformity'. Various licences to preach are held by the County Records Office, and by 1730 a smart chapel had been built in the town.
This became too small by the late 1800s when Revd Wells realised that something bigger was required. His untiring efforts resulted in the present building opening completely free of debt in 1891. Another well known Minister was the Revc Tidd Matson whose well known hymns are still sung today.
The Dissenters' Cemetery is 15 minutes walk away, and having been lost to current knowledge, is gradually being brought back into availability through a local Friends Group encouraged by the Borough Council who wish to open up two adjoining unused cemeteries for locals to enjoy and to encourage wild life and a green lung in an industrial part of town.