St Michael's was not Pitsea's only place of worship. As the settlement expanded during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Congregational, Baptist and other Christian communities established chapels closer to the growing population.
A Congregational mission chapel was built in the Gun Hill area in the 1880s. Historical accounts associate local miller John Willsmer with its establishment. The small chapel served the community as Pitsea grew during the railway and plotland era.
The mission chapel eventually became too small for its congregation. In 1927 it was replaced by a much larger Congregational chapel in Rectory Park Drive, reflecting the substantial increase in Pitsea's population.
The Rectory Park Drive chapel could accommodate around 500 people. It stood near the junction with Nicholas Drive and became part of the religious landscape of pre-New Town Pitsea. Later changes in the Congregational community led to a new church and hall being built at Honeypot Lane in Fryerns in 1960.
After the congregation moved, the Rectory Park Drive building fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1964. Subsequent redevelopment and changes to the road layout further altered the site, leaving little obvious evidence of the chapel today.
Records also show a Pitsea Baptist Church active between 1936 and 1949. The building stood behind a house on the north side of London Road, in the Bowers Gifford/Pitsea area. Though much less prominent than St Michael's, such small chapels formed an important part of local community life.
The history of these chapels shows that religious life followed Pitsea's changing population. As people settled around new roads and housing, worship moved away from a single ancient parish centre and became spread across the growing district.