View source for Toxteth Unitarian Chapel

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2025}}
{{Infobox church | name = Toxteth Unitarian Chapel| fullname = | image = Ancient Chapel of Toxteth 2018.jpg| imagesize = | imagealt = | caption = View across Park Road | pushpin map = Merseyside | pushpin map alt = | pushpin mapsize = 200 | pushpin label position = | map caption = Location in Merseyside | location = [[Dingle, Liverpool|Dingle]], [[Liverpool]], [[Merseyside]]| country = England | coordinates = {{coord|53.3813|-2.9580|region:GB_type:landmark|display=title}} | osgraw = SJ 363 875 | denomination = [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] | churchmanship = | membership = | attendance = | website =  | former name = | bull date = | founded date = | founder = | dedication = | dedicated date = | consecrated date = | cult = | relics = | events = | past bishop = | people = | status = | functional status = Active| heritage designation = Grade I| designated date = 28 June 1952| architect = | architectural type = Chapel| style = | groundbreaking = 1618| completed date = 1774| construction cost = | closed date = | demolished date = | capacity = | length = | width = | width nave = | height = | diameter = | other dimensions = | floor count = | floor area =  | spire quantity = | spire height = | materials = Stone with [[slate]] roof| parish = | deanery = | archdeaconry = | diocese = | province = | presbytery = | synod = | circuit = | district = | division = | subdivision = | archbishop = | bishop = | dean = | subdean = | provost = | provost-rector = | viceprovost = | canon = | canonpastor = | precentor = | archdeacon = | prebendary = | rector = | vicar = | curate = | priest = | asstpriest = | minister = | assistant = | honpriest = | deacon = | seniorpastor = | pastor = | abbot = | chaplain = | reader = | organistdom = | director = | organist = | organscholar = | chapterclerk = | laychapter = | warden = | flowerguild = | musicgroup = | parishadmin = | serversguild = | logo = | logosize = }}

'''Toxteth Unitarian Chapel''' is in Park Road, Dingle, [[Liverpool]], [[Merseyside]], England. Since the 1830s it has been known as '''The Ancient Chapel of Toxteth'''.<ref name=liverp/>  It is recorded in the [[National Heritage List for England]] as a designated Grade&nbsp;I [[Listed building#England and Wales|listed building]].<ref name=images>{{NHLE |num= 1072991|desc= Toxteth Unitarian Chapel|access-date= 2 April 2012|mode=cs2}}</ref> and continues to be used as a [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] chapel.<ref name=uni/> It is a member of the [[General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches]], the [[umbrella organisation]] for British Unitarians.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.unitarian.org.uk/findcong.shtml?cong=Liverpool%20Toxteth| title = Find a Congregation: Liverpool| access-date = 23 January 2011| publisher = The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (Great Britain)}}</ref>

==History==
In 1611 a group of [[Puritan]] farmers built a school in Toxteth and appointed [[Richard Mather]], at the age of 15, as its master.<ref name=liverp>{{Citation | last = Garrard | first = Rev. L. A. | title = The Ancient Chapel of Toxteth   | journal = The Liverpolitan   | pages = 13  | date = August 1948 | postscript = .  }}</ref>{{sfn|Mather|1850|pp=44–45}}  He then went to [[Brasenose College, Oxford]] to continue his education but he was asked to return to Toxteth.{{sfn|Mather|1850|p=47}} By this time the chapel had been built<ref name=images/> and on 30&nbsp;November 1618 he preached his first sermon.{{sfn|Mather|1850|p=48}}  He subsequently became ordained in the [[Church of England]].{{sfn|Mather|1850|pp=48–49}} However he was suspended from the ministry in 1633 and again in 1634 because of his [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] preaching,{{sfn|Mather|1850|pp=52–53}} and in 1635 he emigrated to America.{{sfn|Mather|1850|p=67}}  By 1662 the minister of the chapel was a [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] named Thomas Crompton and he was joined by another [[English Dissenters|Dissenter]], Michael Briscoe.  In 1672 both ministers obtained licences under the [[Declaration of Indulgence (1672)|Royal Declaration of Indulgence]] 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.<ref name=liverp/>  In 1774 it was partly rebuilt.<ref name=images/>  Around this time the majority of the congregation were [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] and the others left to form a new congregation.<ref name=liverp/>  A porch was added in 1841.<ref name=images/>  Unitarian services continue to be held in the chapel every fortnight.<ref name=uni>{{citation  |url=http://www.unitarian.org.uk/local_merseyside.htm |title=Merseyside and the Isle of Man |access-date=27 April 2008|publisher=The Unitarian Movement  }}</ref>

==Description==
The chapel is built in stone with a [[slate]] roof.  It has two storeys and a western extension with a projecting [[bay (architecture)|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]] with [[Louver|louvres]] and a button [[finial]].  The interior has the [[pulpit]] at the east end, galleries on three sides, and [[box pew]]s throughout.  The north and south galleries date from the 17th&nbsp;century and connecting gallery is from the 18th&nbsp;century. Two of the box pews are dated 1650 and 1700.<ref name=images/>  The monuments include a brass dated 1656 and 18th and early 19th&nbsp;century wall tablets.  Outside the chapel is a graveyard with a mid-19th-century [[neoclassical architecture|classical]] [[Arcade (architecture)|arcade]].{{sfn|Sharples|Pollard|2004|p=274–275}}  The organ was built in 1906 by [[Brindley & Foster]].<ref>{{National Pipe Organ Register|id=D07863|mode=cs2|access-date=2 July 2020}}</ref>

The chapel contains a memorial plaque dedicate to [[Jeremiah Horrocks]], a 17th-century astronomer.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rigg |first1=Danny |title=Liverpool man who change the way we see the universe |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-man-who-change-way-26563147 |access-date=1 April 2023 |work=Liverpool Echo |date=26 March 2023 |language=en}}</ref>  Horrocks was the first person to accurately predict the transit of Venus and was a member of the chapel.
<gallery>
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
</gallery>

==See also==

*[[Grade I listed buildings in Liverpool]]
*[[Grade I listed churches in Merseyside]]
*[[Ullet Road Unitarian Church]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin}}
*{{citation | last =Mather | first =Richard | author-link =Richard Mather| title =Journal of Richard Mather  | publisher =David Clapp | year= 1850| location =Boston  | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=5kBIvpRI1owC }}
*{{Citation | last1 = Sharples | first1 = Joseph| last2 = Pollard| first2 = Richard| year = 2004| title = Liverpool| series = Pevsner Architectural Guides| location = New Haven and London| publisher = [[Yale University Press]]| isbn = 0-300-10258-5}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[http://www.ihbc.org.uk/context_archive/45/Churches_dir/Churches_2.htm The Historic Chapels Trust]
*[http://home.clara.net/ronsmith/liverpool/liv_19_1.htm Emigrants from Liverpool, with reference to Richard Mather]
*[https://archive.today/20130128085030/http://www.matherclan.com/Mather/Liverpool.shtml Mather family history]
{{List of Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist churches|state=autocollapse}}
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[[Category:Churches in Liverpool]]
[[Category:Grade I listed buildings in Liverpool]]
[[Category:Unitarian chapels in England]]
[[Category:Grade I listed churches in Merseyside]]
[[Category:Churches completed in 1618]]
[[Category:Churches completed in 1774]]
[[Category:17th-century Protestant churches]]
[[Category:1618 establishments in England]]