Building record 1563/8 - Unitarian Chapel

Unitarian Chapel, King Edward Street. In 1672 2 houses in Macclesfield were licensed for Dissenting worship. After Act of Toleration 1689 chapel built. First service in 1690. Chapel flourished & in early 18th C there were 500 worshippers. Decisive event in chapel's history was coming of John Palmer as minister in 1772. He was a Unitarian & his preaching so offended the Trinitarian & Calvinistic members of the congregation that they left to found Roe Street Congregational Church [CSMR1563/16/0] (1) & (2). Chapel c.1689. Rainwater head dated 1690. Set back from street in small paved court, entered from passage under buildings. Small coursed rubble, restored casements with wood mullions. A doorway at either end of first storey, each with a porch and reached by stone steps with plain wall balustrades; restored slate roof. Interior of chapel has two galleries, contemporary woodwork and two-decker pulpit with sounding board. Full architectural description (3).
John Gartside, a Presbyterian licensed as a preacher in 1672 in Macclesfield, Mottram and Gawsworth, may have laid the foundations for this congregation, which in 1690 had a Congregationalist, Joseph Eaton, as it's minister. Unitarian doctrines came to be favoured by the society in the late 18th century resulting in a Trinitarian secession c.1777. A second Unitarian Chapel was opened in Parsonage Street by opponents of the long-established patronage of the Brocklehurst Family at the old meeting-house, but the two congregations reunited in 1896 (4).

<1> Richards R, 1947, Old Cheshire Churches, Richards R 1972 /378-380 (Book). SCH2309.

<2> Davies C S (ed), 1968, A History of Macclesfield, /322-324 1968 (Book). SCH73.

<3> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, /1/13 (Report). SCH1934.

<4> 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 71 (Book). SCH4548.

<5> Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Revised List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, Borough of Maccesfield 1994/ 84 (Unpublished Report). SCH4570.