Waterlooville Baptist Church is a

Baptist church Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

Waterlooville Waterlooville is a market town in the Borough of Havant in Hampshire, England, approximately north northeast of Portsmouth. It is the largest town in the borough. The town has a population of about 64,350 and is surrounded by Purbrook, Blendwort ...

and surrounding suburban areas in the

borough of Havant The Borough of Havant is a local government district with borough status and as Havant and Waterloo an unparished area in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Havant. Other places within the borough include Bedhampton, Cowplain, Emsworth, ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, southeast England. Built in 1966 to replace a "landmark"

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

chapel on a different site, the new church building is a distinctive and "elegant" example of modern architecture. It is affiliated with the Baptist Union of Great Britain.

History

Waterlooville (historically known as Waterloo and Waterloo Ville) developed from the early 19th century as a linear settlement along the

A3 road The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road or London Road in sections, is a major road connecting the City of London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its length, it is classified ...

from London to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, on land made available by the

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

of the

Forest of Bere The Forest of Bere is a mixed-use partially forested area in Hampshire immediately north of Fareham, Portsmouth and Roman Road, Havant and including a small part of the South Downs National Park. including several

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...

s, and by the 1960s had become the focus of a sprawling suburban area. Ecclesiastically the village was in the parish of Farlington. The

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

St George's Church was built in the early 19th century, and Nonconformists were initially catered for by a building called Ebenezer Chapel which had been registered in November 1874. This was succeeded by a new centrally located Baptist chapel built between 1884 and 1885 to the design of George Rake, a locally prolific architect, and registered in September 1885. This "elaborate" building and adjacent institution, designed in the Italianate style and featuring a tower, was one of the town's "few architectural landmarks". The town's rapid postwar growth, including the development of several overspill estates for people moved out of war-damaged Portsmouth, prompted wholesale redevelopment of the town centre in the 1960s. The area around the old crossroads of the London Road and the road to Hambledon was rebuilt with new commercial and industrial buildings, and the 1885 Baptist chapel was demolished as part of this. A new site was found further north on London Road, and construction of a replacement church started in 1966. It opened in 1967.

Architecture

Architect

Michael Manser Michael Manser (23 March 1929 – 8 June 2016) was a British architect. He was a president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and established his own successful architecture practice in 1961. Education and career Born in Bristo ...

set up in solo practice in 1961 and became known for "uncompromisingly

modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

work". His design for the new Waterlooville Baptist Church reflected these principles and has attracted widespread praise from architectural historians. Alan Balfour described it as "elegant and superbly constructed" and "architecture of high quality", noting particularly the "subtlety" of its internal layout and proportions. The

Pevsner Architectural Guides The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were published b ...

describe it as "an impressively economical design, in form and materials". The church is

steel-framed Steel frame is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The developm ...

using projecting black-painted

I-beam An I-beam, also known as H-beam (for universal column, UC), w-beam (for "wide flange"), universal beam (UB), rolled steel joist (RSJ), or double-T (especially in Polish language, Polish, Bulgarian language, Bulgarian, Spanish language, Spanish ...

s laid both horizontally and vertically. Glazed curtain walling encloses the whole entrance vestibule on the front of the church, which faces west on to the north–south London Road. Internally the a tall box with a central division formed by a full-height altar screen, the back of which can be seen through the fully glazed front elevation. There is also an entrance on the side of the building. Behind the dividing wall (to the east) is a hall which can be used for various purposes; it flanked by shorter single-storey "wings" forming smaller spaces used for offices and similar. There is also a moveable screen dividing the hall and the church. The altar screen is "a solid volume of raw grey brick", and the side wings and rear parts of the building are of the same brickwork. The furnishings are plain and simple, of marble and steel, apart from a 19th-century

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

Administration

Waterlooville Baptist Church is registered for worship in accordance with the

Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 The Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which governs the registration and legal recognition of places of worship. It applies only in England and Wales, and does not cover the Church of Englan ...

; its number on the register is 70818. It was registered for the solemnisation of marriages in accordance with the Marriage Act 1949 on 6 February 1967. It belongs to the Southern Counties Baptist Association, one of 13 regional divisions within

Baptists Together Baptists Together (officially The Baptist Union of Great Britain) is a Baptist Christian denomination in England and Wales. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and Churches Together in England. The headquarters is in Didcot. Hi ...

(the Baptist Union of Great Britain). Services are held on Sundays at 10.30am and 6.30pm. Other community activities take place throughout the week. The church also hosts companies of the Boys' Brigade and Girls' Brigade. Since 2016, the church has been involved with two other local churches in a joint ministry project at Berewood, a new housing estate being built close to Waterlooville. Regular activities take place at Berewood Primary School on the estate.

Notes

References

Bibliography