Our history

This ‘history’ has been extracted from the booklet published in November 1989 to mark the Centenary of St. Clement (1889-1989). The booklet contained the following foreward:

Dear Reader,

It is with some trepidation that we send out this booklet. We found very considerable difficulty in finding hard facts about the early life of our parish and its church. The earliest records are very scanty. If, therefore, what we have written does not accord with your memories, then we apologise and can only say that what we have written is based upon written evidence.

We have been greatly helped by a number of people in putting together this short account of the life of St. Clement’s and its people, too many to name. However, we can, perhaps, be forgiven for mentioning Miss Juliet Marlowe, who, during her time at the Poole Reference Library supplied us with a great deal of information about the earliest days of the parish. We are also indebted to Mrs. Heather Raggett, who spent a good deal of time browsing through old newspapers, and old copies of the church magazines of neighbouring parishes.

A church is more than buildings and property. It is the “congregation of faithful men and women”. Space has precluded us from mentioning more than a few of the many faithful and loyal members of St. Clement’s and St. Barnabus. However, as the Scriptures assure us, they are not forgotten, for their names are “written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

We offer you this booklet with a deep sense of thanksgiving to the Almighty God for His mercy and goodness to this parish and its people. Our prayer is that there will be a worshipping community here living lives honouring to Christ, until the day He comes again.

Yours sincerely,

M.G. Boulter, Vicar and John Hudson & Philip Biles, Churchwardens

From small acorns ...

The first mention we can find of a place of worship in Newtown occurs in the 'Canford and Kinson Magazine' of August 1861. Canford and Kinson were at that time one parish. We quote "You heard in our last number that the new school and teacher's house at Constitution Hill was completed, opened as a school, and also used on every Sunday afternoon for Divine Worship, through the kind assistance of the Rev. Mr. Preston. We have good cause to thank God for having enable us to erect this building and to provide the means of religious instruction for that outlying district."

Services were then held in what was the Boys' School for eleven years. The next record we have is to be found in the Bournemouth Visitor's Directory of 20 July 1872. This refers to an iron building, known as St. Saviour's Church, and which stood on a site at the junction of what are now Grove and Cranbrook Roads. This church had originally stood on a site at the foot of Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, where it had been used by the congregation of what until recent years was St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Exeter Road.

On Sunday, 11 March 1887 the iron church was badly damaged by a violent storm. The roof on the south side was torn off, and the tower containing the bell ended up in the road. For some time the congregation met for worship in the large room at the Coffee Tavern. The old building was repaired, and services resumed in it. A Committee was formed under the chairmanship of Lord Nelson to raise funds for a new church and to provide an endowment for a Vicar.

At this time the population of Newtown was said to be "about 1,800 people, all poor". Despite the efforts of the Committee, by April 1888 it had only raised £153 toward the building costs. £2,060 had been given to endow the living, largely through the generosity of a Miss Uppleby, who had given £2,000. At this point the Fund was wound up and the subscriptions returned.

The then Lord Wimborne stepped in with an offer to bear the cost of the project, amounting altogether to £3,000.

The Architects were Messrs. Romaine, Walker and Tanner of London, and the builder, a Mr. Abley of Salisbury. According to the Dorset County Chronicle, work began on 11 April 1889, and was completed in time for a service of consecration on the morning of Wednesday, 18 December 1889.

The church, which was erected on a site given by Mr. William Pearce of Springfield House, Parkstone, consisted of a chancel, nave, south porch and vestry. The church was planned so that an aisle could be added to the church at a later date. The north wall of the nave is formed by an arcade of four pointed arches on octagonal columns, having what was intended to be a temporary brick faced wall immediately outside it.

The Church was consecrated on Wednesday, 18 December 1889. According to the 'Parkstone Reminder', the Parish Magazine of St. Peter, Parkstone, "... the day was extremely stormy and wet, and the mud around the church was appalling." The service began at 11am and was conducted by the Bishop of Salisbury. "The Vicar of Kinson afterwards hospitably entertained the Bishop, clergy and choir at Newtown Church House.

The Church House referred to stood in Croft Road and was demolished in 1989 in order to make way for the new centre for the disabled.

Later developments

In 1889, the Church was left with a temporary north wall to the nave, and no proper vestries. The organ chamber was used as a vestry for the Churchwardens and the clergy. A ‘temporary’ lean-to structure of timber and asbestos sheeting was built against the north wall of the nave in the 1920’s for use as a choir vestry.

This remained in use as such until 1974 when a generous bequest by Mr. George Andrews made possible the construction of a balcony at the west end of the nave. This provided 40 seats, and allowed the area beneath it to be enclosed and used as a choir vestry. The old, lean-to structure became a vestry for the wardens and clergy. This structure was eventually demolished in 1987 with the building of the Centenary Extension.

Discussion for this project began in 1981 with the aim of completing the Church in time for the Centenary Celebrations. It consists of a two-storey addition on the north side of the nave. It provides an extra 50 seats on the ground floor, and new vestries for the choir, wardens and clergy on the first floor. In addition, toilet, catering and storage facilities were provided. The room under the balcony became a crèche. The cost of these works came to £137,000 and were met by a generous grant of £100,000 from the Talbot Village Trustees who also made available a five-year interest free loan for the balance. This was repaid by members of the congregation through the Weekly Offering Envelope Scheme.

In 1988 a generous gift from a member of the congregation has enabled the re-ordering of the chancel, and the replacement of the original pine furnishings. These had been adapted over the years to increase the seating capacity and were in poor condition. At the same time, a public address system, and an impedance loop for the hard of hearing was installed.

“Loud organs, His glory forth tell in deep tone”

The organ in St. Clement’s was delivered to the Canford Magna Church in 1878. It was placed in St. Clement’s sometime in the 1930’s. When the organ was stripped for cleaning in 1978 the original delivery note from the builders, Bevington, was discovered fixed to the internal frame.

The organ was partially rebuilt by Brindley & Foster at the time of its installation in St. Clement’s. At that time the pedals were put onto a pneumatic system. It was rebuilt by E.C. Bishop & Son in 1939, and was the last organ that the two brothers, K.L. and H.W. Bishop worked on together before the latter was called up to serve in H.M. Forces. He was later to lose his life in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, following the fall of Singapore.

In 1945, the organ was damaged by water after a fire in the vestry, and was restored by K.L. Bishop, who carried out another major overhaul of the organ in 1978/79. At that time, an additional pipe, a 4 foot flute, was added to the swell. K.L. Bishop was assisted in this work by his son Mr. A.K. Bishop.

The cost of the work in 1978 was the very considerable sum at that time of £2,170 plus V.A.T. The Gift Day in 1978 was devoted to meeting this cost, members of the congregation being invited to buy £10 shares. A total of £1,800 was given on St. Clement’s Day, 1978.

The rear of the organ encroaches on the vestry and many couples who married between 1930 and the 1980’s must have as their abiding memory of their wedding, this organ, a thunderous noise immediately behind them as they signed the marriage registers.

"God's Acre"

The Churchyard at St. Clement's was consecrated by the Bishop of Salisbury on 9 September 1896, some seven years after the consecration of the church itself.

The Minute Book of the Annual Vestry Meetings informs us that whilst the Service of Consecration was in progress, a workman named Longstreet was accidentally killed in the nearby gravel pit. He was buried in the newly consecrated burial ground on 12 September. Strangely enough, he was not the first to be buried in the churchyard. By permission of the Bishop, a Miss Herbert was buried a few days before the ground was consecrated.

Early records are restricted to a Register of Burials recording names, ages and date of burial. There is no record of location of individual graves before 1960. Such details were normally kept in the sexton's head. This sometimes lead to difficulties with unmarked graves.

In 1971 a number of anonymous donations made possible the provision of a new entrance to the Churchyard, and a new noticeboard. In the same year, the Church Council agreed to establish an investment fund to provide future income for the maintenance of the burial ground as income from fees declined with the use of the last new grave space. Between 1971 and 1988 Mr Cyril Brooklyn acted as Secretary to the Friends of St. Clement's Churchyard, as the fund was named. By 1988 £3,379 had been invested with the Central Board of Finance of the Church of England, yielding an income of £295 that year.

During the period 1984 to 1988, the hedges and banks on the north and east side of the Churchyard have been replaced with walls, allowing a large amount of rubbish to be removed.

The Work Grows

By the time of the appointment of the Rev. B. Stanley White in 1921, the population had grown from ‘about 1,800’ in 1889 to around 3,000. By the 1930’s, properties were being built at Alderney, and in 1934 a plot of land was purchased from the Wimborne Estate for £500 for the purpose of building a church and a vicarage.

After the Second World War, the population at Alderney expanded rapidly, and in the mid- 1950’s sufficient money was in hand to proceed. A Mr Sweatman of the Isle of Wight firm of Architects, Howard Lobb and Partners, was commissioned to design a dual purpose building for use as a hall during the week and a place of worship on Sundays. The contract was given to local builders R.M. and R. Stacey. The contract was signed on behalf of the Church Council by the Vicar, Curate (Rev. D. Hillman), the Churchwardens, Mr A. Rogers and Mr F. Coffin, and the PCC Secretary, Mr P. Wells. Costs rose and the work only proceeded with additional help from the Bishop of Salisbury’s Discretionary Fund which provided a grant of £500, and Salisbury Diocesan Board of Finance who provided an interest-free loan of £500.

The new church of St. Barnabus was dedicated by the Bishop of Salisbury on Thursday 20 February 1958 at 7.00 p.m.

The Order of Service for that occasion especially thanks the Rector and Church Council of St. James for the gift of the silver Communion Chalice and Paten from the Church of St. Paul’s, Poole, which had recently closed. The glass and silver cruet for the Communion Wine was presented by Rev. B. Stanley White under whose leadership the Hall/Church was planned and built.

Perhaps of even greater interest is that the wooden lectern in St. Barnabus was that originally used in the ‘iron church’ of St. Saviour. So St. Barnabus has a link with the very earliest days of the worshipping community of Newtown.

Vicars of St. Saviour’s and St. Clement’s

Although the Church was consecrated in 1889, the district of Newtown did not become a separate parish until it was separated from the parish of St. Andrew, Kinson, by and Order in Council dated 2 February 1904.

There is no list of clergy who have served in the parish, and the records for the early years are not complete. The first clergymen were assistant curates of the parish of Kinson, and were appointed by the Vicar of Kinson to take charge at St. Saviour’s. They were:

                   Rev. A.C. Dobie

                   Rev. Edwin Coombes, around 1872

                   Rev. George Kent, 1887-

                   Rev. J.D. Dathan, to 1896

                   Rev. G.C.R. Read, 1896-1915

At the creation of the new parish in 1904, the Rev. G.C.R. Read, M.A. was appointed the first Vicar. He was also, by special dispensation from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Vicar of St. John’s Heatherlands.

Since 1904, the list of Vicars reads:

                   Rev. G.C.R. Read, M.A.                1904-1915

                   Rev. Francis W. Peverelle           1916-1920

                   Rev. B. Stanley White                 1921-1956

                   Rev. Richard J. Mulrenan, F.C.A.  1957-1966

                   Rev. Michael G. Boulter, B.D.       1966-1997

Note: Rev. Michael Boulter continued to serve the parish until 1996 and the present vicar, Rev. Jonathan G. Foster, joined us in 1997 and so has already recorded a decade of faithful service to the continuing worshipping life at St. Clement’s.

At the time of the creation of the new parish the population was estimated to be 1,772 people living in 346 houses, an average occupancy of 5.12 people per dwelling place. The 1981 census revealed a total of 3,974 houses and a population of 11,123, an average occupancy of 2.8 per dwelling.

More to follow soon!