THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.  (Upper Meeting House, Unitarian Chapel)

But after the passing of the Toleration Act, 24th May, 1689, places of worship for the use of the Presbyterian and Independent Nonconformists sprang up all over the kingdom, of which the old Presbyterian meeting-house at Newbury is a very fair type. It is the oldest, Nonconformist place of worship in the town, and although its time-worn walls of red brick, mellowed by the sun of many summers are now for the most part enveloped in a coat of modern plaster it still hears an air of antique respectability that bespeaks its former importance.

Previous to the erection of this chapel in 1697, the Presbyterian and Independent congregations used the same place of worship, which is referred to in an entry in the minutes of the Court of Quarter Sessions. 1696, as the dwelling-house of Mr. William Taylor in Bartholomew Street ; and at the Sessions held in August the same year it is certified that the newly erected building on the east side of Northbrook Street, on a plot of ground late in the possession of William Lynch, is appointed for an assembly of persons for religious worship.

Mr. Taylor was a son of the Rev. William Taylor, Vicar of St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, and officiated at the chapel till his death in 1700. He was succeeded by James Peirce, one of the most distinguished and learned of the Nonconformist divines, and the pastoral office has since been filled by many men of literary ability and distinction. Formerly the Presbyterian attendants at the chapel numbered some of the principal and most influential of the inhabitants, but the places of those who were removed by death or otherwise were not supplied by others, and those who now remain are comparatively few in number, and for the most part entertain Unitarian views. The following is a complete list of ministers who have successively held the pastorate since Mr. Woodbridge

1686-1694   John Southwell

1696-1700   William Taylor

1700-1713   James Peirce

1713-1726   Joseph Standen

1727-1753   Daniel Mace

1753-1762   John Blackburn

1762-1804   David James

1804-1827   John Kitcat

1827-1828   Peter Thomas Davies

1829-1849   William Wilson*

 

 

 

1849 (part)   Goodwyn Barnby

1849-1852   Cornwallis F. Smith

1852-1854   Robert Harris

1855-1856   Frederick Rowland Young

1857-1862   Richard Shelley

1863-1865   William Robinson

1865-1895   Charles Matthews*

1896-1898   James McLuckie Connell

1899 (part)  Thomas Johnson Stewart

 1899-           Ephriam Turland

• Buried in Newtown Road Cemetery