About Silchester Methodist Church
Facilities:
The hall is a good size with modern amenities including a well fitted and well stocked kitchen. There is also a small lounge. The premises are available throughout the week for church and community activities. We have ecumenical links with the local Parish church and with Churches Together Around Tadley.
A brief history of the chapel:
There was a windmill at the site of the chapel during the 18th Century. History prior to 1839 is scant but the first recorded Camp Meeting was held on May 31st,1807 and the first Class was formed in March 1810. In 1839 the first permanent chapel was built on the site. Why the chapel was built at the edge of the village has always been a bit of a mystery. Rumour has it that the Rector at the time, Revd. John Coles, chose to build the Crown Inn (now the Calleva Arms) at the village end of the common rather than have a chapel so close to the rectory! Since John Coles neglected the parish it is more likely that the Methodists had increased at the expense of the Parish Church. They were, therefore, banished to the edge of the village. A census on March 1851 records the numbers at the two services: afternoon; 123 adults, 40 children & evening; 174 adults. A manse was built onto the chapel in 1864, probably in anticipation of the Silchester Circuit created in 1866. The present church was built onto the 1839 chapel in 1927. The original chapel is now the hall.
The Silchester Methodist Circuit joined with the Reading Methodist Circuit in 1982.