Shrewsbury Unitarian Church is part of the town’s history as Shrewsbury’s first dissenting church.
In the great ejection of 1662 Francis Tallents and John Bryan were evicted from their Churches, St Mary’s and St Chad’s respectively, and in the times of persecution held meetings in private homes; Mrs Hunt being one person willing to lend her home for this.
In 1689 the Act of Toleration came into being and a small chapel was built in the garden of a timber merchant in the High Street, owned by Richard Price and reached by a narrow passage under the house.
In 1703 the chapel was enlarged, incorporating the house in front of it, but this was destroyed by a Jacobean mob in July 1715. It was quickly rebuilt with a courtyard onto the street by local builder and mason, Samuel Dod, and it cost £429.16s. and a half pence. This was paid for by the Government and handed to the congregation, the land being bought by Thomas Hunt of Borreaton and given under a 99 year deed. The term was extended by his son in 1707 to 999 years. So the Church and the land are owned by the congregation; later George I granted a Royal Charter to the Church and this now hangs over the pulpit.
The building has undergone several refurbishments, notably in 1839/40, and part of the High Street which was then known as Bakers Row was subjected to widening. The fronts of 10 buildings on either side of the Church were set further back and the Church lost 7-8 feet of its courtyard.
The building was now in a dangerous condition and builder John Carline was employed to undertake work at a cost of £577 pounds which was successfully completed.
A number of Shrewsbury’s prominent people attended the Church and gave time and money to the welfare of the Church and its congregation, as seen in the plaques on the walls. Mrs Darwin and her children attended the Church, including Charles, until he went to the Shrewsbury School when all the boys were taken to St Mary’s Church. Consequently we have been involved in the many Darwin Celebrations.