Royal Wootton Bassett United Reformed Church @ 200
Who are we? What do we believe? Written by Rev’d Roy Lowes.
Our building’s 200th anniversary fell on 26th October 2025. This building was raised as a Congregational Church in 1825, though the congregation traces its roots back to eight worshippers meeting in Royal Wootton Bassett in 1676.
In 1972, after long-running conversations between Congregationalists and Presbyterians in England and Wales, most Congregationalists and all Presbyterians came together to form the United Reformed Church. This Church joined, and has been part of the United Reformed Church, ever since.
The building was given the Hebrew name Hephzibah, meaning “my delight is in her” — and many, locally, have referred to her down the years as the old lady of Wood Street.
Who we are — what is our ethos?
As a United Reformed Church we are, as the name says: United, Reformed, and a Church.
- We are a Church which believes that Christ matters for all humanity to live a good life and share wellbeing and the earth’s resources.
- We are a Reformed Church, part of the worldwide family of Reformed churches, always open to reform following new insight from the gospel.
- We are United — formed from the coming together of Presbyterians and Congregationalists in 1972, later joined by Churches of Christ and Congregationalists in Scotland — and we try to make decisions by building consensus.
We offer thanksgiving for the people who have been this Church during its 200 years, for the ways that the church and its life has helped people find faith, hope and love… And we pray most fervently that we will continue to find ways as a church that values unity, to reform ourselves so that we can continue to be a light to our community. Amen.
Prayer for the 200th Anniversary, Revd. Roy Lowes