Methodist Church

Primitive Methodism came to Lower Stratton in 1825. They met for five years in a wheelwright’s shop at Stratton Park Cross Roads, but in 1830 they opened a modest chapel in Swindon Road. Their cause prospered and the chapel was enlarged in 1842.

One of their stalwarts was Charles Morse, whose son, Levi Lapper Morse, established one of the first departmental stores in Swindon.

In 1883, the Primitive Methodists built an imposing chapel on Ermin Street, facing down Swindon Road. Previously, this site had housed a blacksmith’s shop, and on the other side of the road was a wayside pond. Features of the Stratton Primitive Methodists were their large Sunday School, their Band of Hope Temperance Movement and their many social gatherings.

The original chapel of 1830 in Swindon Road, after it had been enlarged in 1842, was converted into two cottages in 1892.

The present site for the new chapel, built in 1893, was soon occupied by the large building still standing, although the clock did not appear until the 1930s. The chapel was built by Thomas Colbourne, one of the Primitive Methodist members who built many chapels in Swindon and the districts around.

—Stratton in Camera; Photographs Of Yesteryear – Frederick Fuller