Our History

Othona began as an experiment in Christian community back in 1946. Our founder, Norman Motley, was a Church of England priest serving as a young chaplain in the RAF during World War II. His style was very unusual for that time making no distinction between officers and other ranks. He promoted and welcomed a completely open discussion of ‘life, the universe and everything’. Norman found a comradeship in wartime that lowered many of contemporary society’s social and religious barriers. They wanted to preserve something of that in peacetime so they began to gather as a community each summer. At the Chapel of St Peter’s near Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex they found a place with deep Christian roots going back almost 13 centuries to 662. Over those many centuries the Chapel has fallen in and out of repair but is now a simple stone chapel hosting regular services for the local Bradwell village community and twice daily a service of thanksgiving and prayer hosted by the Othona Community. It is however from a much older settlement located on the site of the Chapel from where the community took its name, namely the Roman fort of Othona.

With permission to worship in St Peter’s, the fledgling community spent each summer in tents and old huts salvaged from wartime use. It was all very basic – the nearest water source was a standpipe two fields away but basic conditions seemed to help people explore fundamental issues together such as how we could try to avoid future conflict and what Christians and other “people who care”, as Norman stated, could contribute to a better world. From these humble first steps the Othona journey began. Over 75 years later, for thousands of people it has become a precious part of their own journey. The Othona Community is now a network of people stretching across the UK and beyond. In many respects it feels like a large extended family but its core founding aims remain namely those of work, worship, study and play.

You can read more on the history of the Othona Community in the book “Much Ado About Something”, written by Norman Motley. All proceeds from the book go to supporting the community.