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 of 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 "Dame's School" was built in the churchyard which provided education for local children until the County School was built some fifteen years later.

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 and the organist was paid £5 per year!
A well-known Victorian architect, William Butterfield, 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.
The 19th century Font is of grey and white marble in which small fossils can be found. It is covered with a carved oak lid.

THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS
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, including the interesting communion table by the bookcase made by Thompson's with the famous carved mouse.
In 1955 a Compton organ of three extended ranks replaced the Victorian one, made by Bevington. It is still in use in the Parish Church of Hook in Hampshire. The present organ a Copeman Hart digital electronic one, was installed together with the new sound system in 1998.

The White Ensign over the west door was presented to the parish by the officers and ship's company of HMS 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. A toilet for the disabled was installed in 2004.   In 2019 a complete refurbishment was undertaken and a Church office was added.

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 of heart and enterprise he gave employment to many and his resources provided School Instruction for Burley when it was at that time remote and destitute of any."

A memorial on the north side of the nave bears the delightful legend "Emma Harding. 1873-1976 a faithful member of the congregation who continued to walk to church when past her hundredth year." Another centenarian is commemorated on the next tablet but one. The quality of wording of the memorial tablets repays 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 Thompson who made them. To find them, look carefully at the legs of the small table near the font and at one of the pew seats towards the pulpit.