The Parish of Malmesbury
with Westport and Brokenborough

Recent History

The present parish is the result of mergers involving three smaller parishes.

To the west of the town centre, outside the old walls, was the separate Westport parish, in the area now commonly known as "The Triangle". The parish dates from Saxon times.

The present building dates from 1840 and was the Westport parish church until 1946. It was then extensively altered to be used as the Abbey's church hall (known as St Mary's Hall), for the Sunday School and other activities. With the opening of Le Flambé (see below) it became redundant and has now been sold to the Scouts.

Brokenborough, a village close to Malmesbury, was a separate parish from 1879 to 1984, when it was merged with the Malmesbury with Westport parish to create the present parish. Prior to 1879 it had been a dependent chapel of Westport parish. Brokenborough still has its own church, with regular weekly services.

Click here to view a TimeLine diagram showing the main events in the history of the three components of the parish from the 7th century to the present day.

The parish churches are Malmesbury Abbey

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Adjacent to the Abbey churchyard is the Le Flambé Christian Centre.

Le Flambé was a French-style restaurant. When the building came up for sale in 2000, the Abbey was able to purchase it to replace St. Mary's Hall. After the building had been re-furbished - much of the work being done by volunteers from the Abbey congregation - the building was re-opened in September 2001. This enabled the Sunday School, now re-launched as the Junior Church, to take part in the first part of the morning service before going to their own classes in the new building.

Le Flambé is also used for other meetings for which the Abbey is too large or otherwise unsuitable.

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Under the terms of the will of the late Miss Moore, the May Moore Trust is a charitable trust, the primary objects of which are “the care and spiritual instruction and comfort of lonely elderly inhabitants of the town of Malmesbury”.

The funds of the trust are applied by the trustees to provide housing and expenses of office for a chaplain for this purpose. This part-time position is usually filled by a retired vicar - someone who no longer wants the full responsibilities of a parish, but is not ready to stop working completely.

The current, and sixth, holder of this office is the Rev. Mike Noah.

Rev. Noah has been a non-stipendary minister in Hucclecote, Gloucester and will be continuing this ministry as Associate Pastor for the Abbey and Brokenborough church. He also carries out the part-time duties of Anglican Chaplain to Malmesbury Hospital.

Rev. Noah may be contacted via the Parish office on 01 666 826 666 or by
e-mail: mmc@malmesburyabbey.com.

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More recently, part of another legacy has been used to provide the salary for a full time Youth Officer, to help with the spiritual and social needs of the Abbey and Malmesbury Youth in the 11 - 25 age range.

The Youth Officer will supervise and develop existing youth activities, establish further links with schools and other groups and develop new initiatives in worship and youth work.

The first appointment to this position was made in October 2002 when Alice Petitt joined the staff of the Abbey.

Alice can be contacted via the Parish office on 01 666 826 666 or by
e-mail: youthofficer@malmesburyabbey.com

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