The 19th century also saw the growth of Methodism in Lambourn. Early services were held in Betty Bowsher’s cottage which stood on land now occupied by the present chapel. One man was prominent in advancing the Methodist cause, not only in Lambourn, but wider afield into the Vale of the White Horse. Thomas Bush was born in Letcombe Regis in 1785, educated in Wantage, and on the death of his father in 1800 moved with his mother to North Farm in Lambourn. As a young man he was drawn to Methodism and by 1809 was a local preacher.
But by 1813 he was suffering a speech affliction, sometimes reducing his voice to a whisper, and resolved that what support he could not give from the pulpit he would provide financially. In 1812 he funded a chapel in Letcombe “to collect a few sheep in the wilderness and build a fold in which to shelter them”. This was to be the first of many, including chapels in West Hendred, Childrey and Wantage.
1835 saw a great revival of Methodism in Lambourn and Bush supported the rebuilding of the chapel with a schoolroom and vestries. The ensuing debt to Bush of £480 was cancelled by his will. On the death of his mother in 1837 he declared “I do solemnly take Thy cause, and Thy poor, as my family and inheritors”. Indeed Thomas undertook to visit all the poor of Lambourn at least once a year until his death in 1847. He and his mother share a grave in Lambourn churchyard.
