History
We can trace the Baptist movement in Portsmouth and our own church history back a long way.
It’s believed that there was an active Baptist community in our city as early as the 1640s. We understand that the first meeting house was built around 1700 – and several more were added across the city over the next few hundred years.
Baptists in Portsmouth
We can follow our own beginnings back to 1813, when Lake Road Chapel opened in central Portsmouth. This chapel is said to have become the largest Baptist church in the whole of Southern England, with seating for 1,800 people! Thomas William Medhurst, considered to be the first ‘pupil’ of famous Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon, served as minister at Lake Road for 20 years in the 1870s and 80s
Lake Road Chapel
Along with several other churches in Portsmouth, Lake Road Chapel was damaged in the Second World War. So, after the war, another building was bought to replace it. Previously an empty Methodist chapel, it opened as a Baptist church in 1950. This the same building where we are now – and we’re proud to have been serving the community from here for more than 75 years!
More recently, most of the members of another local Baptist congregation (the former London Road Baptist Chapel founded in the 1880s) joined us in 2002. At that time, we became known as North End Baptist Church. We’re fortunate to be surrounded by some lovely reminders of our history. For example, the communion table we still use today was rescued from the wartime wreckage at Lake Road. And in 2024, a beautiful new wooden cross was made by our members from historic pews we no longer needed.
