Loughwood Meeting House

Loughwood Meeting House is one of the earliest surviving Baptist meeting houses in Britain, a thatched chapel set into a hillside near Dalwood and first recorded in 1653, when Baptists from nearby Kilmington sought an isolated place to worship. Guards were posted outside to warn of approaching soldiers, and the site may have been chosen on the county border so that preachers could flee into the neighbouring county. Inside, little has changed since the 18th century, with plain pine pews and pulpit, a baptismal pool beneath the floor, a wall tablet to the Reverend Isaac Hann, who is buried in the chapel, and a musicians' gallery whose book-rest has a hole cut for a bass violin. Given to the National Trust in 1969, after damp and rot had driven services to Kilmington, it has had its thatched roof restored and still hosts worship twice a year. Reviewers praise how well the chapel is kept, and warn that parking is tight: the gravel car park beside it has just three spaces. There are no toilets, and only assistance dogs are admitted.