Building record 179/13/0 - Site of Presbyterian (Unitarian) Chapel

<1> Richards R, 1947, Old Cheshire Churches, Richards R, 1972, p.385 (Book). SCH2309.

Presbyterian (Unitarian) Chapel, Hospital Street. Built 1726. A small building, but of traditional form. Length ran E-W, and the pulpit was originally in the S aisle, but was then transferred to the N side. The side pews were mounted up in tiers, as in some Calvinistic churches in Europe. The exterior gables had an almost Dutch effect. The chapel became dilapidated and was demolished in 1970

<2> Pevsner N & Hubbard E, 1971, The Buildings of England: Cheshire, p.288 (Book). SCH3078.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1851, Nantwich Board of Health Map, Sheet LVI, 13, 1851 (Maps and Plans). SCH2431.

The earliest maps that the chapel is shown upon are the OS First Edition Maps of 1851 (1:528) (source 3) and 1876 (1:2500) (source 4). There is a Graveyard marked to the South of the Chapel

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, 1876 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

<5> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME), 1994, An Inventory of Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses in the North of England, Cheshire Number 106 (Book). SCH4548.

In 1672 Robert Fogg, ejected Rector of Bangor Isycoed, Flintshire, was licenced as a Presbyterian preacher and his house and two others in Nantwich registered as meeting-houses. Mathew Henry preached here in 1686 'to a considerable company', probably at the Presbyterian meeting-house in Pepper street, which was formerly registered in 1689: that building, originally a Malt Kiln was afterwards converted to a warehouse and finally replaced by a pair of cottages. The site for the new meeting-house at the corner of Hospital street and Pratchitts row was acquired in March 1725, and the building erected between 4 May 1725 and 18 May 1726. It stood concealed behind a timber framed building, next to the street, demolished c.1850, in which Joseph Priestly, minister 1758-61, kept a school to augment his income. The society supported Priestly's religious opinions, becoming Unitarian in it's later days. It suffered greatly from lack of support, and although efforts were made to repair the fabric and the fortunes of the society at several periods from the mid 19th century onwards, the cause was abandoned about 1965 and by 1968 the building had fallen into a derelict condition. It was finally demolished in 1970-1.