Minister: Rev Sue Baker-Maher 01480 473444 07483 153948

A Brief History of Hilton Methodist Church
The earliest record we know of for a Wesleyan Methodist congregation in Hilton is in an account book which shows that Methodists in Hilton contributed 5s 6d (27.5p) to the work of the Huntingdon Circuit in 1836. It is very likely that the worshippers would have met in one of the houses in the village.

The first record we have of a Wesleyan Chapel, as such, is from the registration of a Wesleyan place of worship on May 7th 1839 by William Whitney of Huntingdon but it is not clear exactly where the building was located. Over time, the congregation grew to a point where the building was no longer big enough for the congregation and it was decided a larger one was needed.

The architect of the present chapel was Robert Hutchinson from Huntingdon, whose house still stands at the junction of Market Hill and Princes Street. He also designed Huntingdon Methodist Church, which was built in 1878.

This chapel was built on the site of the old village 'pounds' and, according to a newspaper report, the site of the new chapel was, "just opposite that of the old one". The foundation stone was laid on July 3rd 1867 by Thomas Coote of Fenstanton. Mr Coote was a wealthy local businessman and he was a member of the Congregationalist Church in Fenstanton (now the United Reformed Church). He also laid the foundation stones for that church and for the old Trinity Church in Huntingdon, which has now been demolished.

Our Sunday School building was added in 1979 and the church was extensively refurbished in 1999.

Our Church and Hilton Parish Church formed a Covenant in January 2001 to co-operate in our witness here. This covenant is commemorated by the wall-hanging here and is re-affirmed by both churches in January each year.

Malcolm Lynn