THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS
The first records of Wesleyans in Kingsclere are of a group of people who met in John Hall's house in November 1808.
A directory states that the Chapel was built the following year although another states 1826. However there are two tombstones, Ann Sidery aged two years and Eliza Sidery aged 5 months, which are dated 1819
The material used for the outside of the Chapel was flint stone similar to the resurfacing of St Mary's, the Litton School House and the Old Vicarage all built in the 19th Century.
The seating including the gallery was for 280 worshippers. Behind the pulpit is a rose window which was added in the 1950's by the kindness of the late Arthur Newbery, which at the time of preparing these notes [1987] needs repairing. Below the window is a wooden cross which was made and given by the pupils of Kingsclere Secondary School before they vacated the school for their new premises in Burghclere. The Communion table was also made in Kingsclere in 1897 in pitch pine carved to match the rostrum. In the same year the kneeler was placed round the Communion Rail, this has white lilies on a crimson ground worked in Berlin wool. The tall brass vase was given in memory of Mr Frank Hopkins who died in 1936. He was a regular worshiper and Parish Councillor. The book table and vase in the porch was donated by Mrs Muriel Walker in memory of her husband who had spent his retirement from Methodist Ministry in Kingsclere. The Methodist Church was rewired in 1975 paid for by contributions given in memory of MR Harold Hill who died in 1975 and a small brass plaque at the back of the church records this. Two years later two more members died Mr Hubert Smith and Mr William Hopkins and a pedestal container for flower arrangements was given in their memory. A jug for the Communion wine was given in memory of Miss Doris Cooke who died in 1980.
In 1895 an agreement was made between Charles Sidery and those acting on behalf of the Wesleyans and two years later the schoolroom was built. Although it was intended to have some kind of lavatory when the schoolroom was built there were insufficient funds to allow for this so the "little house" became the broom cupboard. Much later when piped water was available a W.C. was added. The schoolroom was used as a classroom by the Secondary School before The Clere was built. Ration Books were also distributed from the schoolroom in 1952.
Major repairs had to be done due to fungus and dry rot when £4500 was spent between March 1981 and January 1983. Included in this was a new floor in the church and for one or two Sundays services were held in the chancel of St Mary's Church.
In the 1850's there was a Primitive Chapel in Kingsclere and in the 1920/30's two railway carriages were used at the top of The Dell by the "Ranters" who were the Primitive Methodists. In 1860 J Winterbourne, a Kingsclere lay-preacher served Primitive chapels in the Newbury circuit, which reached as far as Hungerford with 120 preachers covering 53 places of worship. The amalgamation of the Primitives and Wesleyans came about 1934. It was about this time that a new hymn book was brought out and another one of Hymns and Psalms has been published and Kingsclere has purchased some with the legacy from the late Mrs Kate Powell in 1986.

THE ROMAN CATHOLICS
During the 1939-45 war, when the Black Watch were stationed in Kingsclere, some of the soldiers asked if there was somewhere they could have Mass. Mrs Coffee, who then lived at 42 Swan Street opened her house and Mass was said by Father Wheeler in her front room. When Evan Williams was at Park House he allowed the dining hall to be used for Mass, but there came a time when it was required as a gymnasium for the lads, so the Church Hall was hired. The Albert Hall, having become a white elephant to its shareholders was sold to the Catholics. The Albert Hall was built in 1886 at the suggestion of Mrs {Porter. It was designed by Mr Peter Dollar and opened by Miss Beach of Oakley. The tender to build the Albert Hall was accepted from W and C Garrett for £800 and the Duke of Wellington contributed £20 of this. It has been used in a variety of ways; concerts, parties, film shows, dances, sales, exhibitions and political meetings and when Kingsclere Secondary School was overcrowded it was used as a classroom.