History

In 1820, during the reign of George IV, Thomas Fountain, a victualler, bought a small plot of land measuring 16 yards by 11 in Green End Street from a local farmer, Henry Wells. The purchase was funded by a number of “Protestant Dissenters”, who had been going over to New Mill in Tring to worship but had decided to meet in Aston Clinton. A small Meeting House was built on the plot of land.

A trust was entered into, and the Trustees each subscribed five shillings to transfer the ownership from Thomas Fountain to the Trustees. The original Trustees are listed as Daniel Ginger (Farmer), Benjamin Bates (Lawyer), George Griffin (Gentleman), Thomas Clement (Watchmaker), Thomas Allen and John Sutton (Dealers in Straw Plait) and other gentlemen from the surrounding district, Tring, Ellesborough, Aldbury and Wendover. The congregation outgrew their first Meeting House, and a new larger building was erected on the same site.

The church continued to flourish as the Reverend John Amsden encouraged the congregation to ‘step out in faith’ and build a much larger and more impressive building on additional land given by the Rothschild family. The church was nervous, needing to raise £2000. However, they were successful and in 1897 the new chapel was built with the foundation stone being laid by Baron Rothschild, then the local MP. Families still connected with the church, the Sharps and the Burnhams, laid other stones.

All was not well and within a year of completion the walls of the church began to bow outwards and buttresses and tie rods were hastily provided to hold the building together. This was obviously quite effective as they are still holding the church up today.

The church progressed through Edwardian times, with two of its stalwarts of the era being Lot Ginger and Lot White. During the First World War the church continued upon its business mostly under the leadership of laymen or under a joint pastor-ship. Following World War Two the church continued under the leadership of a number of laymen and joint pastors with other churches in the locality. During that period a Mr Will Platter, the local blacksmith and garage owner, bequeathed his house on the main road to the church for use as a Manse (minister’s house). This house was not in an ideal spot so it was sold and a new Manse built on land adjoining the church, with two adjoining plots being sold to help the finances.

The church now had a Manse and plans were made to prepare the way to appoint a full time minister for the first time in it’s history. Under the leadership of Mr Vic Clark the church worked towards this goal, to the point where shortly after his retirement the Reverend David Nash was appointed as full time minister. This was a time of great celebration in the church, having reached a significant milestone.

After receiving some initial support from the Baptist Union of Great Britain the church soon became financially self-sufficient. The church building was soon extended to provide proper toilet facilities, a kitchen, lounge and crèche. Later, further changes were made to the front entrance of the church.

The church continued to grow, and a Youth Pastor was appointed to organise and develop the youth work. Twelve years after his appointment David Nash felt it was time to move on, and shortly after this the Youth Pastor completed his training and moved on to full time employment elsewhere. We then had a five-year period without a pastor until Reverend Steve Smith was appointed in May 1999. Since his arrival there have been a lot of changes, with a major one being the total interior refurbishment of our building. New flooring, seating, heating, lighting and sound system means we are now ready for the challenges of the twenty first century. Steve left Aston Clinton in 2008 and after a relatively short period of approx 9 months our present minister Simon Downing moved into the manse with his wife Nicky and their two little daughters. We are looking forward to an new exciting chapter in the life of the church, and seeing God's continuing work in the village.