Old Unitarian Meeting House

Old Unitarian Meeting House

This Unitarian chapel was built in 1717 on the site of an earlier chapel. The original meeting house, constructed by George Long in the 17th century, was set on fire and destroyed by a mob in 1715. The current building replaced it and is thought to be the earliest Nonconformist chapel in North Staffordshire.

The building is constructed from brick rendered in roughcast, set under a clay tile roof with shallow hipped form. It is three bays wide and single-depth, forming a tall single-storey structure with a later attic floor added in 1926.

The road front features a single 6-panelled door positioned to the right, with a square window above it. To the left of the door are three vertically-oriented 12-pane windows with segmentally arched heads, offset to the right of the centre. At attic level, three evenly-spaced horizontally-oriented 9-pane windows are positioned above. The lettering "UNITARIAN MEETING HOUSE" is inscribed below the attic windows. The north gable contains three timber lancets within a single arched opening fitted with 20th-century 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 interior is accessed through a lobby beneath the gallery, with a stairway to the right, a small service room ahead, and a timber-panelled partition wall with a doorway leading into the congregational area to the left. The gallery is supported by a substantial timber beam. The congregation space contains fixed 19th-century timber pews on timber floorboards, with a raised platform at the north end. The walls are lined with a slender decorated dado rail and plain dado panelling. The gallery above features timber panelling with a central carved portrait. The main chapel area, including gallery, retains its original early 18th-century layout.

During the latter half of the 18th century, 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 around 1761. The meeting house continued to serve its original use throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. 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 20th and 21st centuries.