The church of St John the Baptist, Burley was consecrated by Charles Sumner, Bishop of Winchester, on 14th March 1839. It was a simple rectangular building, designed by Charles Underwood, comprising what is now the nave and choir of the present church. The cost of about £1,000 was raised by local subscription together with a further sum of £1,000 for the building of a Vicarage nearby.

Shortly afterwards a "Dames School" was built in the churchyard which provided education for local children until the County School was built some fifteen years later.

BEFORE 1839
Burley was originally part of the Parish of Ringwood and it was only separated from it in 1838 when Sir John Lefevre, Lord of the Manor of Burley, gave part of his estate, called Barn Close, for the erection of the first Anglican Church in the village. The Congregational Chapel was built fifty years earlier, in 1789.

It is possible that there was a place of worship in Burley before 1550 as a deed of 1663 mentions a "tenement called the Chapel" and a field called Chapel Haye. This may refer to a chapel belonging to the Manor which became derelict after the Reformation and had been converted to a cottage.

IN VICTORIAN TIMES
In 1851, the pews were "enclosed" and a gallery, reached by an outside staircase, added at the west end. In 1886, the church was stated "to be "very damp' and the seats so ill-arranged that kneeling was impossible for adults." In those days the parish clerk was paid £3 a year and the organist £5!

A well-known Victorian architect, William Butter-field, designed a new sanctuary, vestry, north porch and organ chamber and these were added in 1886/7. The gallery was removed from the west end and better
seating provided.

THIS CENTURY
Between 1936 and 1978 the pews, choir stalls, altar rail, pulpit and lectern, were all replaced with the fine oak ones you see now. Many were given in memory of Burley people.

In 1955, the present Compton organ of three extended ranks replaced the Victorian one, made by Bevington, which is still in use in the Parish Church of Hook in Hampshire.

The white ensign over the west door was presented to the parish by the officers and ship's company of H.M.S.Burley in 1958.

In 1967 the Victorian tiled floors in the chancel and sanctuary were replaced with Purbeck marble and Portland stone.

The church room, on the north side of the church, was added in 1974 and enlarged in 1987 to provide meeting rooms, kitchen facilities and storage space.

THE WINDOWS
The stained-glass spans nearly 100 years, the earliest windows dating from the Victorian restoration of 1886, the latest being installed in 1984. Like the memorial tablets on the walls they were nearly all given in memory of Burley people and each has its story to tell.

The east window depicting St John the Baptist in the centre together with St Luke and St Paul was given by William Esdaile, formerly of Burley Manor. His own memorial is the west window showing Faith, Hope and Charity, given by his many friends. The south sanctuary window commemorates the death of a young girl, Ruth, aged 14, and tells the story of our Lord raising a dead girl to life.

In the nave, on the south side, St George commemorates a soldier killed in action in Tunisia in 1943. Near the north door is a very different window, also associated with the two World Wars, given by the children of the Sunday School in 1919 in thanksgiving for peace.

Towards the pulpit, the figure of our Lord knocking on the door is reminiscent of Holman Hunt's famous painting "Behold, I stand at the door and knock". This window links Burley with the South of France.

The next two have North American connections. Miss Applebee, who lived to 107, introduced women's' hockey into America. St Catherine of Sienna is the patron saint of sport. Note the hockey sticks in the border, also the rhebus of her name shown in pictures of apples and bees The window was given in 1984 by her many American friends. The other window in memory of Mary Warren-Taylor of New York was given in 1936 by her great friend Miss Applebee, who also gave the pulpit and choir stalls in her memory.

THE MEMORIALS
Like the windows, the memorial tablets, both in the church and churchyard, tell their own stories of Burley people.

One, in the churchyard, not far from the north door, commemorates a Frenchman who sought refuge in England after the Revolution of 1789 and settled in Burley as a nursery-gardener. The inscription reads. "In memory of Virtue Fey who departed this life Oct.9.1863 aged 62. Also of William Fey who died July. 13.1859 aged 85. By much largeness ot heart and enterprise he gave employment to many and of his resources provided School Instruction for Burley when it was at that time remote and destitute of any."

Another on the north side of the nave bears the delightful legend "Emma Harding. 1873-1976 a faithful member of this congregation who continued to walk to church when past her hundredth year." Another centenarian is commemorated on the next tablet but one.

The quality and wording of the memorial tablets repay careful reading. They reflect well the styles of brass and stone tablets over a period of about 100 years.

Hidden amongst the memorial pews and furniture in the nave are two wooden mice, the signature of Tompsons who made them. To find them, look carefully at the legs of the table near the font and at one of the pew ends near the pulpit.