Unitarian Chapel

The Unitarian Chapel, dated 1802, is located on Cross Street in Moretonhampstead. It was originally a Presbyterian chapel. The building is constructed of rendered rubble, likely granite, and has a slate hipped roof with lead rolls to the hips and a slight overhang at the eaves. It has a rectangular, single-cell plan, with the main entrance on the north front, which is accessed via a gallery.

The north front features plain corner pilasters with round-headed panels. A central doorway is topped with a blind boarded segmental fanlight, a segmentally arched canopy, and a 20th-century door with cover moulds and wrought iron hinges. Flanking the door are segmental-headed windows with original cross mullion-transom frames and leaded panes. A small recessed tablet above the door is inscribed "G.W./ERECTED/1802," with a hood mould above. A large round-headed window sits above the tablet, featuring an original frame with radial bars in the tympanum. Two taller, similar windows are on the east and west sides, and on the south side, where the window sills are at a lower level. The south windows have been altered with later 19th-century frames containing stained glass.

According to C. Stell's draft for the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, the interior features a flat plaster ceiling with a moulded cornice. The north gallery has a panelled front with a concave central section, supported by three turned-wood columns, potentially reused from a previous building. The centre of the gallery is painted with the name "Yaweh" in Hebrew characters. There are plain, high-backed pews in the gallery. Fittings include a pair of brass, early 19th-century, six-branch chandeliers and a Parliament clock originally from Bowden Hill Chapel in Crediton. The east and west windows have red glass borders and sunbursts above the centre light, dating from the early 19th century. A small panel in the north window on the west side depicts Christ at the Last Supper. A monument commemorates Rev. John Smethurst, who served as minister for 42 years and was also minister to the Unitarian Baptists in the town.

The Presbyterian congregation may have originated in 1662, with Robert Woolcombe as the first minister. A house was converted for worship in 1687, and a new meetinghouse was built on this site in 1692, enlarged in 1718. This structure became unsafe and was replaced by the current chapel in 1802. A fragment of the earlier building remains as part of the boundary wall to the northwest of the burial ground. Since 1818, the Presbyterians have shared a pastor with the Baptists and support a Unitarian ministry.