Baptist Church, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 (Grade II)

ST 9063 MELKSHAM OLD BROUGHTON ROAD (west side)

5/137 Baptist Church (formerly listed as Baptist Church Sunday School) 29.9.50

Baptist Church. 1776, restored 1879. Rubblestone, double Roman tiled (steeply pitched) hipped roof. Square plan. 2-storey, 3- window. Original entrance door is on right return from street. 6- panelled double doors in staff-moulded case with pulvinated frieze and pediment on pilasters. Either side is sash in beaded case. First floor has three round-headed 4-pane sashes in beaded cases. Right and left returns have two sashes in ground floor in beaded cases and two 4-pane round-headed sashes to first floor. Attached to left return is C19 entrance hall and sunday school. Late C18 cartouche is on left return. Interior: Galleries on three sides, of 1795, have elaborate cast iron balconies supported on cast iron columns with composite capitals. Pews and pulpit are wooden and date from restoration of 1879. Ceiling has plaster cornice and central rosette with acanthus leaves. Marble wall tablet to Ledyard family of 1790, and one to Joshua Russell, 1840 in classical style. Removal of Victorian pews proposed in 1984. (N. Pevsner, Buildings of England: Wiltshire, 1975).