Patrick Comerford
I was visiting Gawcott, a small village on the fringes of Buckingham, late last week, to see Holy Trinity Church, built in 1827 by the Revd Thomas Scott (1780-1835), and to learn more about Gawcott’s connections with his son, the Gothic revival architect Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), who was born in the village on 13 July 1811.
I was writing about Holy Trinity Church yesterday (23 November 2025). But, in fact, Gawcott has two churches: Holy Trinity Church and Gawcott Methodist Chapel. The Scott family were known at first for their evangelical sympathies, and had connections with early development of Methodism, to the point that it is said the family were ostracised for their low-church leanings.
Family lore says that George Gilbert Scott’s aunt Gilbert had once been kissed by John Wesley, which she esteemed a great privilege. The Revd Thomas Scott’s guests at his parsonage in Gawcott were often evangelical neighbours who came to Gawcott to hear him preach.
The Methodist movement in Gawcott started out in a cottage on Main Street before moving to the present building on Main Street in 1868.
Gawcott Methodist Chapel is part of the Northampton District in the Methodist Church and of the Buckingham, Bicester and Brackley Circuit. The churches in the circuit are in in three counties – Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire – and the circuit includes Methodist churches in Bicester, Brackley, Buckingham (Well Street United Church), Gawcott, Silverstone, Steeple Claydon, Thornborough and Towcester.
The Methodist Chapel in Gawcott has been modernised in recent years, and it has an open-plan sanctuary, kitchen, small room and disabled access and disabled toilet. The chapel holds a drop-in café from 10 am to 12 noon every Thursday, and a parent/carer and toddler group meets in the chapel on Thursday afternoons.
Today, the Methodist Chapel and Holy Trinity Church in Gawcott support one other and share in their work.
The Revd Tim Edworthy, the Minister of Well Street United Church in Buckingham, is also the minister of Gawcott Methodist Chapel. Sunday services in the Methodist Chapel in Gawcott are at 6 pm.
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