Unitarian Church And Attached Schoolhouse To The North

The Unitarian Church and attached schoolhouse, built in Ilminster, dates primarily from 1718-19, with significant alterations and additions throughout the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. A schoolroom was added to the east wall in 1846, extended in 1907, and the front of the chapel was partly rebuilt in 1851. The interior was refitted and reorientated in 1894, with further changes made in 1913, including the addition of an organ chamber at the north end.

The church is constructed of squared Ham Hill stone with ashlar dressings and a stepped-forward gable to the west front; rough ashlar is used elsewhere. The roofs are slate, with a double-pitch to the main block. The west front is symmetrical, featuring a central gable with an obelisk finial atop a pediment featuring a moulded cornice and a slit window. Large, 4-centred-arched stained-glass windows, now boarded up, are positioned beneath hoodmoulds. Original 18th-century doors with 4 vertical panels, set within 4-centred arches, are flanked by stone doorcases with open pediments and obelisk finials supported by Tuscan-style pilasters. A mid-19th-century single-storey brick wing is attached to the south-east corner.

The schoolroom facade, facing East Street to the north, features two gables with obelisk finials and stone copings; the eastern gable is wider and lower. A rectangular projection with slit windows sits below a plaque bearing the dates 1718 and 1913, both under labelled hoodmoulds. A boarded-up window is visible on the east return. A gabled porch with a 2-light window and a door to the south return is centrally placed on the easterly gable end, adjacent to a larger 3-light window. All exposed windows have margin-panes and labelled hoodmoulds.

The interior, while not accessible for inspection, is noted to contain late 19th-century pews, a gallery, and fittings. Mid-18th-century piers with square moulded capitals support truss ends and the gallery along the original east wall; a plaster barrel-vaulted ceiling is present in the schoolroom. Also present are 18th and 19th-century memorials. The Presbyterian society originated in the late 17th century and has, since the late 18th century, maintained a Unitarian ministry.