Cowes Baptist Church

Baptist Church, Cowes

The Cowes Baptist chapel on Victoria Road was opened on 28 July 1877 (Coronation Day, the anniversary of Queen Victoria being crowned in 1838).

The Baptists had previously gathered in Cowes using the Foresters’ Hall on Sun Hill but had decided that there was a need to have their own chapel.

Initially a piece of land was purchased on Mill Hill for a chapel, however it was found that the mutual covenants on the land did not allow for a chapel to be built there, so the land was sold.

Finally the site on Victoria Road was purchased on which the chapel was built, although not without problems. While under construction, the chapel suffered considerable damage in September 1876 when a ‘tornado swept through Cowes’. Later ‘a hurricane’ almost wreaked the chapel when it had been built to the eves, destroying one wall completely and damaging the others.

Behind the chapel was a schoolroom, with an entrance onto Moorgreen Road, together with various offices and a vestry for the minister. The builder was Mr. George William Thomas of Cowes.