High Pavement Chapel is a

redundant church A redundant church, now referred to as a "closed church", is a church building that is no longer used for Christian worship. The term most frequently refers to former Anglican churches in the United Kingdom, but may also be used for disused church ...

building in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, England. It is now the Pitcher and Piano

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

and is

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. It was built as, and for most of its existence operated as, a Unitarian

place of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

Tram with Pitcher and Piano cocktail bar, Nottingham

History

By August 1662, under the Act of Uniformity, two Nottingham ministers, John Whitlock and William Reynolds, had been deprived of their living at

St Mary's Church, Nottingham The Church of St Mary the Virgin is the oldest parish churchDomesday Book: A Complete Translation (Penguin Classics) of Nottingham, in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest church after the Cathedral in the city of Nottingham. The church ...

and a third, John Barret, of his at St Peter's; the three men left town to comply with the

Five Mile Act 1665 The Five Mile Act, or Oxford Act, or Nonconformists Act 1665, was an Act of the Parliament of England (17 Charles II c. 2), passed in 1665 with the long title "An Act for restraining Non-Conformists from inhabiting in Corporations". It was one ...

. However, they continued to preach in the area, including houses in Nottingham's Bridlesmith Gate and Middle Pavement. This led to the foundation of a permanent chapel in

High Pavement High Pavement is a street in Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is one of the earliest streets in the city, and most of its buildings are listed. History It runs from the east end of St Mary's Churchyard to Weekday Cross. Around 1681 a ...

in 1690. By 1735 the congregation had established itself as liberal (in the tradition of

English Presbyterianism Presbyterianism in England is practised by followers of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism who practise the Presbyterian form of church government. Dating in England as a movement from 1588, it is distinct from Continental and Scottish ...

) and in 1802 as Unitarian. In 1758 the appointment of a new junior minister, Isaac Smithson, caused a schism. The senior minister withdrew to a new chapel in nearby Halifax Place. This schism lasted until 1775 when the two congregations merged. The original chapel was considerably rebuilt in 1805. In 1864 the congregation opened a daughter church, Christ Church, Peas Hill. This survived until 1932. The current building was opened in 1876, built to a design of the architect Stuart Colman, of Bristol. It was used as a place of worship for Unitarians until 1982. It was then converted into the Nottingham Lace Museum, but this venture proved financially unviable. The building was then converted to its current use, as a Pitcher and Piano public house. The current congregation, Nottingham Unitarians, affiliated with the

General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC or colloquially British Unitarians) is the umbrella organisation for Unitarian, Free Christians, and other liberal religious congregations in the United Kingdom and Irelan ...

, are now based nearby at 3 Plumptre Street, Nottingham NG1 1JL, a former lace factory where items of lace were finished.

Stained glass

* East window 1904, by Morris & Co., to designs by

Philip Burne-Jones Sir Philip William Burne-Jones, 2nd Baronet (1 October 1861 – 21 June 1926) was the first child of the British Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones and his wife Georgiana Macdonald. He became a well-known painter in his own right, pr ...

* North aisle war memorial window, 1925, by Kempe & Co * Sunday School memorial window, 1906, by

Henry Holiday Henry Holiday (17 June 183915 April 1927) was a British historical genre and landscape painter, stained-glass designer, illustrator, and sculptor. He is part of the Pre-Raphaelite school of art. Life Early years and training Holiday was born ...

* North transept north window 1890, by H Enfield

Ministers

*John Whitlock, M.A. 1662–1708 *William Reynolds, M.A. 1662–1698 * John Barret, B.A. 1662–1713 *John Whitlock junior 1689–1723 *John Hardy 1714–1727 *Nathaniel Whitlock 1729–1739 * Obadiah Hughes 1728–1735 *Samuel Eaton, 0.0.1737–1759 *Joseph Evans 1754–1758 *Isaac Smithson 1758–1769 *John Milne 1759–1772 *Thomas Brushaw 1769–1772 * John Simpson 1772–1777 * George Walker, F.R.S. 1774–1798 *Nathaniel Philipps, D. D. 1778–1785 * Nicholas Clayton, LL.D. 1785–1795 *William Walters 1794–1806 *Robert Kell 1799–1801 *James Tayler 1802–1831 *John Grundy 1806–1811 *

William Pitt Scargill William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

1811 *Richard Fry 1812–1813 *Joseph Hutton, LL.D. 1813–1816 *Henry Turner 1817–1822 *Benjamin Carpenter 1822·1860 *William Blazeby, B.A. 1859–1860 * Peter William Clayden 1860–1868 *Richard Acland Armstrong, B.A. 1869–1884 *James Harwood, B.A. 1884–1892 *

William Edward Addis William Edward Addis, also known as Edward Addis and William Addis, (9 May 1844 – 20 February 1917) was a Scottish-born Australian colonial clergyman. He was born in Edinburgh, Mid-Lothian, Scotland, and was Snell Exhibitioner to Balliol Colleg ...

, M.A. 1892–1899 *Joseph Morgan Lloyd Thomas 1900–1912 *John Charles Ballantyne, M. A. 1913–1918 *Simon Jones, B.A. 1918–1934 *James Arnold Williams, B.A., B.D. 1934–1946 *Charles Gordon Bolam, B.A., B.D., M.A. 1946–

Organists

Henry Farmer Henry Farmer (13 May 1819 – 25 June 1891) was a British organist and composer based in Nottingham. Life He was born in Nottingham, the third son of Mr. John Farmer. He was self-taught as a musician, but undertook some study in harmony with S ...

1839 – 1879 *William Lawrence ???? – 1883 – 1885 – ???? *William Wright ???? – 1879 – 1888 – ???? (later organist of Christ Church, New Radford) *Charles Lymn ???? – 1902 – 1914 – ???? *H. Freestone ca. 1916 *Charles Edward Blyton Dobson 1920 – 1925 *Wilfred Davies ca. 1960s

References in literature

The church is mentioned in ''

Sons and Lovers ''Sons and Lovers'' is a 1913 novel by the English writer D. H. Lawrence. It traces emotional conflicts through the protagonist, Paul Morel, and his suffocating relationships with a demanding mother and two very different lovers, which exert c ...

'' by

D.H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

, chapter 15. :Then, happening to go into the Unitarian Church one Sunday evening, when they stood up to sing the second hymn he saw her before him. The light glistened on her lower lip as she sang. She looked as if she had got something, at any rate: some hope in heaven, if not in earth. Her comfort and her life seemed in the after-world. A warm, strong feeling for her came up. She seemed to yearn, as she sang, for the mystery and comfort. He put his hope in her. He longed for the sermon to be over, to speak to her. The throng carried her out just before him.

References

*''An Itinerary of Nottingham'', J. Holland Walker, 1927. *''Allens Illustrated Guide to Nottingham'', J. Potter Briscoe, 1888. {{Coord, 52, 57, 04, N, 1, 8, 45, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Nottingham High Pavement Nottingham, High Pavement Chapel Churches completed in 1876 19th-century churches in the United Kingdom Presbyterian churches in England Former Presbyterian churches Former churches in Nottinghamshire Unitarian chapels in England Pubs in Nottingham Grade II listed pubs in Nottinghamshire