This booklet was compiled by members of the Devon Family History Society in co-operation with the Devon Records Office. The booklet provides an extract of some information and further details may be obtained from the Devon Records Office. Ashburton Independent Chapel [also known as Ashburton Great Meeting] was founded as an English Presbyterian meeting in 1665. It was licensed in 1672, and was continuous thereafter. It was Ashburton’s earliest nonconformist congregation, and is believed to have met in a converted barn, which stood where the chapel was later constructed in North Street, Ashburton in 1739. It became an Independent Chapel and later a Congregational Chapel, finally becoming part of the United Reform Church. The chapel in North Street finally closed in the 1980s and is now an antique fireplace emporium, but still retains many of its features, including stained glass windows and memorials on the walls. The baptism register is in the form of a small paper notebook. It includes baptisms from June 1777 to October 1837. However, recording of baptisms was rather disorganised in the early years. Although the earliest baptisms date from June 1777, these were recorded inside the back cover of the notebook. Many of the baptisms appear to have been entered later by the minister and are therefore not in chronological order – in a few cases, they were obviously recorded from entries in prayer books held by the parents of the children baptised.