Old Unitarian Meeting House

Details

Unitarian chapel, dating from 1717, on the site of an earlier chapel.

MATERIALS: The building is constructed from brick, set under a clay tile roof.

PLAN: Three bays wide and single-depth, this is a tall single-storey building with later attic floor. The ground floor mainly accommodates the congregational area, with lobby and stairs at the south end, and gallery above. The stairs lead to the gallery and above to an open plan attic floor.

EXTERIOR: Each of the four elevations is finished in roughcast render. The road front has a single doorway with 6-panelled door to the right, and a square window above it. To the left of the door are three vertically-oriented 12-pane windows with segmentally arched heads, that are offset to the right of the centre of the façade. Above them at attic level, evenly-spaced across the front, are three horizontally-oriented 9-pane windows. Below the attic windows are lettering: UNITARIAN MEETING HOUSE. The north gable has three timber lancets within a single arched opening with C20 stained glass and a 9-pane window above. The rear elevation has two 9-pane windows at attic level. The south gable end has no openings. The shallow hipped roof is covered in clay tile.

INTERIOR: The entrance to the chapel leads into a lobby underneath the gallery, with a stairway to the right, a small service room ahead, and doorway within a timber panelled partition wall that leads into the congregational area to the left. The gallery is supported by a substantial timber beam. The congregation space has fixed C19 timber pews on timber floorboards. At the north end is a raised platform. The walls are lined with a slender decorated dado rail and plain dado panelling. The gallery above has timber panelling with a central carved portrait. The gallery and attic floor above have no historic fittings.

HISTORY: The first Unitarian Meeting House was built on this site by George Long in the C17. The meeting house was set on fire and destroyed by a mob in 1715. The current building replaced the fire-damaged building in 1717 and it is thought to be the earliest Nonconformist chapel in North Staffordshire. During the latter half of the C18, there were strong connections between the Wedgwood family of Burslem and the meeting house. Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), renowned potter and co-founder of the Unitarian Academy in Warrington, worshipped there. Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), the eminent scientist and preacher conducted worship here in c.1761. The meeting house continued to serve its original use throughout the C19 and C20. In 1926 an additional floor was built on the building. In 1957 pews from the demolished Wesleyan Chapel in Brunswick Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme were inserted in the congregational area on the ground floor. Further alterations have been carried out in the later-C20 and C21.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The Old Unitarian Meeting House at Newcastle-under-Lyme, built in 1717, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Historical: This is an early example of a Unitarian chapel, built on the site of an even earlier building used for the same purposes. The likely patronage of Josiah Wedgwood and Joseph Priestley at various times in the C18, also grants some additional historic interest. * Planform: The main chapel area, including gallery, retains its original early-C18 layout. * Rarity: Relatively few early-C18 Unitarian chapels survive in a recognisable form. * Interior: The building retains some internal fittings of note, including gallery panelling and a C18 stair balustrade.

SOURCES Architectural History Practice, Churches and Chapels of North Staffordshire: An Architectural and Historical Review, 2009

Heritage Gateway: http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MST8645&resourceID=1010 [Accessed 10 May 2010]

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Reilly, R. `Wedgwood, Josiah (1730-1795)', online edn, 2009 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28966 [Accessed 8 June 2010]

Schofield, R. E. `Priestley, Joseph (1733-1804)', online edn, 2007 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22788 [Accessed 8 June 2010]

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

385953

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Other
Newcastle under Lyme 1173-1973, (1973)

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