Toxteth Unitarian Chapel is in Park Road, Dingle,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

, England. Since the 1830s it has been known as The Ancient Chapel of Toxteth. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade I

listed building 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 ...

. and continues to be in use as a Unitarian chapel. It is a member of 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 ...

, the

umbrella organisation An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...

for British Unitarians.

History

In 1611 a group of

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

farmers built a school in Toxteth and appointed

Richard Mather Richard Mather (1596 – 22 April 1669) was a New England Puritan minister in colonial Boston. He was father to Increase Mather and grandfather to Cotton Mather, both celebrated Boston theologians. Biography Mather was born in Lowton in the p ...

, at the age of 15, as its master. He then went to Brasenose College, Oxford to continue his education but he was asked to return to Toxteth. By this time the chapel had been built and on 30 November 1618 he preached his first sermon. He subsequently became ordained in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. However he was suspended from the ministry in 1633 and again in 1634 because of his nonconformist preaching, and in 1635 he emigrated to America. By 1662 the minister of the chapel was a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

named Thomas Crompton and he was joined by another

Dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Usage in Christianity Dissent from the Anglican church In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...

, Michael Briscoe. In 1672 both ministers obtained licences under the

Royal Declaration of Indulgence The Royal Declaration of Indulgence was Charles II of England's attempt to extend religious liberty to Protestant nonconformists and Roman Catholics in his realms, by suspending the execution of the Penal Laws that punished recusants from the ...

and the chapel was enlarged to accommodate Dissenters from central Liverpool. However as more chapels were built, Toxteth chapel was neglected and fell into disrepair. In 1774 it was partly rebuilt. Around this time the majority of the congregation were Unitarian and the others left to form a new congregation. A porch was added in 1841. Unitarian services continue to be held in the chapel every fortnight.

Description

The chapel is built in stone with a slate roof. It has two storeys and a western extension with a projecting bay. The windows are round-headed with stone surrounds. At the west end are paired round-headed entrances with a commemorative plaque and three windows above them. At the south end is a small octagonal

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

with louvres and a button finial. The interior has the pulpit at the east end, galleries on three sides, and

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in ch ...

s throughout. The north and south galleries date from the 17th century and connecting gallery is from the 18th century. Two of the box pews are dated 1650 and 1700. The monuments include a brass dated 1656 and 18th and early 19th century wall tablets. Outside the chapel is a graveyard with a mid-19th-century classical

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

. The organ was built in 1906 by Brindley & Foster. File:Tercentenary tablet, Ancient Chapel of Toxteth.jpg, Plaque above the door of the Chapel File:Schoolhouse, Ancient Chapel of Toxteth.jpg, The schoolhouse next to the chapel

References

Bibliography * *

External links

The Historic Chapels TrustMather family history
{{Liverpool B&S Churches in Liverpool Grade I listed buildings in Liverpool Unitarian chapels in England Grade I listed churches in Merseyside Religious buildings and structures completed in 1618 Churches completed in 1774 17th-century Protestant churches 1618 establishments in England

History

Description

See also

References

External links