Monument record 179/19/0 - Baptist Chapel Market Street

Baptist chapel shown on the OS 1st Edition 1:2500 map of 1876 (1), which has survived as a standing building. The earliest reference to a Society of Baptists in Nantwich, may date from as early as 1688, when an Address to King William III was written by the 'ANABAPTISTS at NAMPTWICH' (2). During this time the congregation included a Mrs Milton, widow of the famous poet (2). The earliest known Baptist minister was the wealthy tobacconist and salt proprieter Samuel Acton (2). The first chapel was a low brick building built in 1725, but was closed in 1772, and subsequently (in 1777) leased to the Weslyans for a period of thirty years (2). In 1812 a house in Hospital Street was registered for worship, which was presumably superceded in 1873, when the movement finally established their chapel on Market Street (2).
Superseded the earlier chapel at Barker Street [CSMR 179/55/0] (3).
The modern Chapel (2004) is on a different alignment to the old chapel, and is therefore probably a different structure (4&1).

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, p393-7 1876 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

<2> Hall J, 1883, A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich or Wich-Malbank in the County Palatine of Chester (Book). SCH80.

<3> 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 101 (Book). SCH4548.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1995-2017, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 Scale Map, 2004 (Maps and Plans). SCH2427.