Loughwood Meeting House, Dalwood, Devon :: Shared Description
It is recorded that there was a Baptist meeting house on this site in 1653 although this building dates from the late 17th or early 18th century. The building was renovated in 1871 when the old thatched roof was replaced by a slated one. When the building was passed into the care of the National Trust in 1969, a complete restoration was carried out and this included the thatched roof being reinstated.
The Baptist congregation who met in the nearby village of Kilmington sought refuge from persecution in this remote place in 1653. Meeting here was illegal until the passing of the Toleration Act of 1688. The building is partially set into the hillside and at that time the area was thickly wooded, thus making it difficult to locate. It was 180 years before a Baptist congregation worshipped again overtly in Kilmington.
The guide booklet states, “The dense woodland surrounding the original meeting place has long since been cleared so that the clandestine nature of its setting can only be appreciated in the imagination, but the two retiring rooms beneath the gallery inside, and the stable in the burial ground outside, bear witness to the long distances that 'the persecuted people of God known as Baptists' were compelled to travel in order to worship with others according to their beliefs. Whole Sundays, necessitating fireplaces and simple cooking facilities, were spent here.”
Until 1844, the parish of Dalwood was an outlier of the county of Dorset surrounded by Devon. Loughwood Meeting House was on the boundary of the two counties and there is a local tradition that the choice of this site enabled a preacher to make good his escape into the neighbouring county whenever lookouts warned of approaching danger.
The Baptist congregation who met in the nearby village of Kilmington sought refuge from persecution in this remote place in 1653. Meeting here was illegal until the passing of the Toleration Act of 1688. The building is partially set into the hillside and at that time the area was thickly wooded, thus making it difficult to locate. It was 180 years before a Baptist congregation worshipped again overtly in Kilmington.
The guide booklet states, “The dense woodland surrounding the original meeting place has long since been cleared so that the clandestine nature of its setting can only be appreciated in the imagination, but the two retiring rooms beneath the gallery inside, and the stable in the burial ground outside, bear witness to the long distances that 'the persecuted people of God known as Baptists' were compelled to travel in order to worship with others according to their beliefs. Whole Sundays, necessitating fireplaces and simple cooking facilities, were spent here.”
Until 1844, the parish of Dalwood was an outlier of the county of Dorset surrounded by Devon. Loughwood Meeting House was on the boundary of the two counties and there is a local tradition that the choice of this site enabled a preacher to make good his escape into the neighbouring county whenever lookouts warned of approaching danger.
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Created: Mon, 12 Oct 2015, Updated: Mon, 12 Oct 2015
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