Bessels Green Baptist Churchyard in Sevenoaks, Kent

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Members have Contributed

194 Memorials
89% photographed
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About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

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The Baptist Church at Bessels Green lies near the green in the centre of the village. It was built in 1770 by a group who had originally worshipped at another local Baptist chapel called the Old Meeting House. This still thrives as Sevenoaks Unitarian Church, on the main road (A25).

The split with the Old Meeting House arose from a difference in beliefs during the late 1760s and led to a group led by John Stanger leaving and forming their own church fellowship. Initially meeting in friends' houses, they soon decided to build their own meeting house and land for this purpose was donated by Charles Polhill of Chipstead Place. The new Meeting House was opened for worship in December 1770 and is now called Bessels Green Baptist Church.

The burial ground inscriptions were recorded some years ago, and then again in 2011-12. Some of the more worn inscriptions were clarified from a list of burials taken from documents held at the church. A set of digital photographs was also made at the same time, and these have now been uploaded.