Community Baptist Church
Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire
Nearly four centuries ago, the founding members of Stony Stratford Baptist Church committed to raising a building to glorify God and announce His Kingdom to the community of Stony Stratford.
The LNWR Company established their locomotive factory in Wolverton in 1837, and terraced red brick houses were built for the railway workers with most of the streets named after railway company directors. The railway board was concerned for the spiritual welfare of some 800 people and the Radcliffee Trustees offered lad for a church, churchyard, parsonage and garden with a fixed annual sum towards the support of a clergyman.
On 4th July 1843 the foundation stone was laid at a ceremony conducted by the Bishop of Lincoln. Wolverton now had the honour of being the first railway station in the world to have a church erected for the special, though not exclusive, use by a purely railway resident population. Railway apprentices were responsible for the fittings inside the church, including the pews, and carriage painters painted the organ pipes... so the church has a distinct 'railway' feel. Today the church still has a mostly locally based congregation, some with generational links to the railway.