ABOUT WESTBOURNE CHURCH RESTORATION TRUST

The Westbourne Church Restoration Trust was created in 1992. Its aims are the Preservation and Restoration of St John the Baptist church in Westbourne.

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The Trust's funds have come from the legacies and donations of people who value or have valued the church as the heart of the community. Every penny raised goes to preserve the fabric of the church as there is no provision for this type of expenditure from other Church of England funding. 

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St John's is an historic church. It was founded in the 13th century, probably on the site of an older Norman church.

The church was remodelled significantly in 1500 giving us very much the interior we see today. The churchyard boasts the oldest avenue of yew trees in England and they are thought to have been planted around the time of the Battle of Bosworth (1485).

The church is proud to have a ring of eight bells in the belfry. The bells ring out each Sunday, after weddings, and on joyful as well as sombre national occasions such as Remembrance sunday, when they are muffled. The tenor bell (larges in the belfry weighing in at 526Kg) provides the much loved hourly clock chimes in the village. 

Every one who lives within the parish bounds has the right, in law, to be married or to have their funeral service in their parish church. Many families meet to welcome a child or adult to the Church through baptism.

St John's has stood for centuries, but its future depends on all of us to continue the work others began many years ago.

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