Link to the Bures Baptist
Church web site

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. (1831 - Present day)

1831 - Friends of Colchester Baptist Church formed, to consider building a meeting house for the preaching of the gospel in Bures.

1833 - Rev Anderson was appointed Pastor.

1834 - Bures Baptist Church was formed with 12 members and the building was finally constructed.

1839 - First Bures school was opened as the Pastor was concerned, that with a village population of 1,600, there was no place for the daily education of the poorest people.
(Bures Primary School was opened in 1840 for fee paid children). One story building erected to the side of the church which began as a Sunday School and then the National School (for non-conformists)
Children were taught to read the bible and later girls were taught the art of sewing. This was paid for by the children bringing in a donation, perhaps a penny.

1844 - Extension built to accommodate additional school children as numbers grew.

1860 -. The Church also ran its own benefit society in the 1860`s, a self-made welfare tradition that had its roots in the Middle Ages in the village

1862 - The Church building walls were raised to accommodate the gallery. Gas was introduced for lighting.

1874 - Membership of the Church reached 57, 39 of those by adult believers baptism and 11 by transfer.

1902 - Church was accepted for membership with the Baptist Union of Great Britain - and still remains so today.   Harvest Festival 1904
Baptist Chapel dated 1911
1937 - Records indicate Rev Peter Wright as Pastor

History to be continued when information becomes available.

2002 -