First beginnings

Going back to the early part of the19th century we find God is at work in the locality. A company of people meeting in a farm-house, needed a place of worship and, according to the ‘Evangelical Magazine’, a ‘neat little chapel’ was opened on June 5th 1811. Difficulty has been experienced  in locating this chapel from records, but it would appear to be the one in Beadles Lane, Oxted. The deeds of this Chapel do not give details that far back, but other indications point to the fact that it was in existence before the railway came to Oxted in 1887.

The Surrey Mission Society had commenced work in the area and had appointed the Rev. S A Dubourg in 1812 to this task. He ministered in the Oxted Chapel along with his other endeavours stretching from Bletchingly to the Kent border! The work in Oxted grew and not far away another group at Pains Hill  were meeting in the open air and in another farm-house.

The number increased to ninety so that a place of worship became a necessity. The outcome was the purchase of a small piece of land adjacent to Limpsfield Common, costing five pounds. A chapel seating one hundred and fifty people was erected and opened on August 6th 1823. The road running past the chapel was named Chapel Road.