Pantiles Baptist Church used to be in Chapel Place; the street got its name not from the Baptists but from the Church of King Charles the Martyr, the Anglican church nearby, which was originally designated a chapel.
Pantiles Baptist Church was named when two congregations came together; one from Grove Hill Baptist Church, which was in a building which is now an Indian restaurant, and Rehoboth Chapel in Chapel Place. This new church was formed in 1984 and then in 1991 the site of the old St Mark’s School in Frant Road was purchased, and a new building with adjacent manse and Sunday School rooms was created and opened in October 1998.
St. Mark's School had begun on the site in 1872 when William, Earl of Abergavenny, granted the use of the land on which a school would be erected for "the education of children of the labouring, manufacturing and other poor class of the neighbourhood".
The parents of the first pupils were levied to pay two pence for each child and many of the children walked several miles to school each day, whatever the weather.
The buildings on the Frant Road site were used by the school for 115 years until July 1987 when the school moved to its present site on Ramslye Road. The original site was derelict for a number of years until Pantiles Baptist Church bought it. The school hall and some other buildings were retained and the school playground is now the church car park.
King Charles the Martyr in 1830 Frant Road (where Pantiles Baptist Church is now located at No 73) can be seen to the right of the church |
Grove Hill Baptist Church |
Rehoboth Chapel in Chapel Place |