Immanuel opened its door for the first time in September 1939 – a month and a year that will probably ring a bell! Many stories have been told about why it had to move from Old Town (road widening) about its building (changing the site at the last minute, flooded footings, rushed work to get it finished) and about how it has always tried to serve the community around about (not so many still recall the tennis courts that adorned the present car park!). But our story starts much earlier than 1939.
Immanuel is the ‘descendant’ of the first non-conformist chapel in the little village of Swindon. Opened in January 1804, the Newport Street Chapel was used up until 1866 by a group of ‘independents’ who had been dissatisfied with the worship offered by the parish church of Holy Rood, in the Lawns. Wealthy draper and banker, James Strange had been the prominent backer of the construction of the octagonal chapel and a prime mover in encouraging its first minister to move to the village.
In 1866 the brave decision was taken to transfer to new buildings on the corner of Bath Road and Victoria Street and at the same time the congregation joined the Congregational Union. For 70 years the worshippers saw highs (building a daughter church at Sanford Street) and lows (financial problems and a leaky roof!) and then in 1937 came the threat of a compulsory purchase order as the Town Council wanted to widen the road*. And that takes us back to our beginnings in 1939!
Through the years Immanuel has had links with other Congregational and URC churches in the area: in the late 1950s a number of Immanuel’s members moved to help found the church at Penhill, in the 1960s and 1970s we had a joint pastorate with Wootton Bassett and also Ramsbury. And here we are in 2007 linking with URC friends in Highworth to form yet again a joint pastorate.
The church in Highworth was founded in 1777 and the building was erected in 1825. For many years the church was supported by the family who owned a mat factory in the town, and many of their employees attended what was then the Congregational Church. During the 20th Century, numbers fell, and at one time after the Second World War there were only a handful of worshippers. Although its membership is smaller than Immanuel’s we have much in common: we are both largely traditional in our worship, liberal in our theology, ecumenical in our commitment and conscious that the gospel has social as well as personal implications!
*Ironically Victoria Road wasn’t widened until the 1960s!