Sad news
John Harding (on behalf of the Elders of Summertown URC) wrote (April 2022):
“Dear Friends, very sadly I must let you all know that the Church Meeting at Summertown URC has decided our church will close permanently after a final Sunday service at 10.30 am on 29th May. This decision comes after a significant reduction in attendance following lockdown and the increasing age of those in charge of the church. Regrettably this also means the end of our membership of the Summertown Wolvercote & Wytham Church Partnership (SWWCP). We are very grateful indeed for all the times we have had together and send our very best wishes for the future of the Partnership.”
The story of ‘Free Church’ or ‘Nonconformist’ witness in Summertown goes back to 1824 with the opening of a small “Dissenting Meeting House” in Middle Way. At this time Summertown itself was only a small village with open country to the south almost as far as St Giles’, within whose parish it lay. The first Congregational Church Fellowship was formed in 1842 and the foundation stone of its first chapel, at 11 Middle Way, was laid in 1843. The present building, in the Banbury Road opposite South Parade, dates from 1893. At first only the church was built, the chapel in Middle Way being retained. In 1910 a vestry and the back halls were added to the church, the chapel in Middle Way being let to the Vicar and Churchwardens of St Michael’s until their church hall in Portland Road was opened in 1924.
