Potted History of Trust

At just over sixteen miles square Rutland is England’s smallest County. Described as “one of England’s best kept secrets”, it has two market towns and over fifty villages. With a total population of less than 40,000 many of these villages are best described as hamlets. Most villages have a Parish Church and by the early part of the last century many also had a non-conformist chapel. Sadly, many of these are no longer a place of worship. This is true of the Baptist chapel which was built in Belton in Rutland in 1842.

A group of “Protestant Dissenters” began meeting in the village and local area in the early Victorian era. We don’t know much about them, but we know they included a butcher, a baker, and a cabinet maker!  There were also two laborers, a blacksmith, a farmer, a shepherd, and a miller. They came from surrounding villages, also Oakham and Leicester. Most importantly we know that they held and testified to a deep conviction of faith which made a difference in their lives and their destiny and which they believed should be shared with others. They prayed that the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ should become the faith of many others whose lives would also be changed. 

As the group grew in size, they had a “meeting house” built in Belton at a cost of £324.4.2d. A report about the opening on 6th October 1842 gives details of two sermons preached by a Rev S. J. Davies of Salter’s Hill, London. A “Public Tea” was served two 240 people in a large tent erected for the purpose. Catering was obviously more than generous as the next day “The Sabbath School children were plentifully regaled on the fragments”. 

“The neat commodious chapel” built in 1842 and with later additions to the rear served gospel work well until in the last decade of the 20th century. The Trustees took the decision to close the building because of the few attending and the difficulty of maintaining a property that was no longer functional. The building and the chapel field were sold, and the Charity Commission agreed to a new Scheme with the title “Belton in Rutland Baptist Trust”. The Gospel believed by those early Belton Baptists and their successors has not changed, though the ways it needs to be shared have. The Trustees of the Trust registered in March 2005 have the responsibility of using the assets for Gospel work in keeping with the beliefs of those pioneering Christian Believers of nigh on 200 years ago.

We have been supporting gospel projects since 2005.