PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY.
In 1642
a woman was presented for disturbing the minister
of Warminster in church and holding conventicles
at the house of Elizabeth Cripps. (fn. 9) The group of
people who were opposed to the preaching of the
vicar in 1648 (fn. 10) probably included many of the early
supporters of nonconformity in the town. William
Gough, a puritan who was afterwards ejected from
a living in Berkshire, was preaching and keeping a
school in Warminster before 1653. (fn. 11) In 1659 the
vicar complained that over 300 parishioners refused
to pay him his dues. (fn. 12) There is thus considerable
evidence for sectarian activity in the town before
the Restoration. In 1662 64 people were presented
for not coming to church but going elsewhere to
hear other preachers; they included members of
the families of Wansey, Wilton, and Buckler, all
of considerable wealth. (fn. 13) In 1669 a congregation of
200-300 men and women, rich and poor, was
meeting at St. Laurence's Chapel and at William
Buckler's house. They were described as Presby
terians, Anabaptists, and Independents 'promiscuously'. Their teachers were six ejected ministers,
all of whom lived at a distance, one as far away as
London. (fn. 14) In 1672 another ejected minister, Robert
Bartlet, who was a Presbyterian, was licensed to
preach at Buckler's house. (fn. 15) Two years later the
churchwardens presented two Anabaptists and
two Quakers by name, and 'great multitudes'
more, for frequenting conventicles. (fn. 16) In 1675 there
were 56 nonconformists in the town compared
with 544 churchgoers. (fn. 17) Of these nonconformists
of the earlier part of Charles II's reign, the largest
group appears to have been the Independents and
Presbyterians, who were clearly the forerunners of
the Old Meeting. No early congregation of Baptists
formed in Warminster, and Baptists from the
town went to Crockerton to worship. (fn. 18)
For some years after the first period of indulgence in the 1670's the history of the group which
had met at William Buckler's house is obscure.
John Buckler was probably preaching in the town
before 1687, and was imprisoned for being unlicensed in 1690. (fn. 19) Nonconformists were clearly
numerous and influential in and around the town
in 1683, (fn. 20) but during the period of persecution it
seems most likely that Horningsham was to Warminster what Southwick was to Trowbridge (fn. 21) -a
meeting place near enough to reach but distant
enough to discourage interference. In 1719 there
had been until lately several Warminster families
who 'always belonged to Dr. Cotton's church at
Horningsham, and used to be ranked with the
disaffected here'. (fn. 22) At the second Declaration of
Indulgence in 1687, a congregation began to meet
openly in the town, and from then the continuous
history of what was generally called the Old
Meeting can be traced. (fn. 23)
In 1687 the group fitted up temporary accommodation in a barn in Beastleys Meadow belonging to
Edward Middlecott of Portway. Compton South,
who had been living at Donhead St. Mary since
his ejection from Berwick St. John in 1662, was
invited to take half the services, and did so, although still living at Donhead, until his death in
1705. On other Sundays the pulpit was taken by
a variety of preachers who included John Buckler
and Rowland Cotton, minister of the Independent
church at Horningsham, and William Dangerfield,
minister of the Presbyterian congregation at
Bradford-on-Avon. (fn. 24) In 1691 a plain meeting
house was built not far from the barn, in what was
later known as Meeting House Lane, now North
Row. In 1704 some adjoining land was bought and
the meeting house demolished and rebuilt so that
it could seat 500 people. (fn. 25) The names of those who
subscribed to the cost and bought pews in the new
building are eloquent of the social standing and
wealth of the congregation. They included Edward
Middlecott, lord of the manor of Portway and
probably the richest man in the town; William
Temple, lord of the manor of Bishopstrow; the
heads of the land-owning families of Halliday,
Buckler, Bayly, and Langley, and the clothing
families of Slade, Warren, and Wansey; and a
number of prosperous tradesmen. The new building was opened by Cotton Mather, an eminent
divine from Boston, New England, who was
apparently a relative of Rowland Cotton. (fn. 26) After
Compton South's death in 1705, Samuel Bates
was appointed as resident and full-time minister.
His doctrine soon caused a schism in the meeting;
a minority of his hearers suspected him of
Arianism, and seceded to form the New Meeting
whose history is traced below. In 1719 a defence of
Bates's position which exonerated him from the
charge was subscribed by 44 members of his congregation; it shows that it was little impaired in
wealth or influence, for most of the principal
families remained, including the Middlecotts and
the Temples. Four years previously the congregation was reckoned at 800, including 4 members
whose estates totalled together £90,000, and 20
voters for the county. (fn. 27)
After the secession the Old Meeting was usually
described as Presbyterian. (fn. 28) Bates's long pastorate,
from 1706 to 1761, was afterwards peaceful, and
most of the important families remained faithful.
Bates lived for many years with the Middlecott
family at Portway House, (fn. 29) and received £40 a
year from the congregation. The cause declined
greatly in the time of his successor, William Lush,
whose sermons were critical dissertations on the
accurate meaning of a sentence of scripture which
the poor could not understand, and which were
made duller by the extreme slowness of their
delivery. Nathaniel Andrews, 1782-94, was a more
lively preacher, who began a Sunday School in
1785. Some difficulty was experienced in finding
'a minister of free sentiments' to replace Andrews. (fn. 30)
Thomas Tremlett, who was eventually appointed,
began to preach the Unitarian doctrine which had
forced him to leave Oxford. Theophilus Browne
who succeeded him was an Anglican clergyman
who had become 'fatigued with the Trinitarian
Forms of worship'. While he was at Warminster he
published a statement of the principles of Unitarianism and a new translation of selected passages of
scripture. The introduction of the latter into the
services was one of the numerous subjects on which
he quarrelled with the congregation before he left
in 1807. (fn. 31)
The change in doctrine under these two men was
permanent, although the meeting was still called
Presbyterian until its end. Tremlett's teaching is
known to have alienated two members of the Butler
family who left for the New Meeting, (fn. 32) but the
trustees appointed in 1805 comprised 4 Bucklers,
3 Wanseys, a Warren, and a Hinton, (fn. 33) all of families
which had supported the meeting a century before.
They were typical of the prosperous clothiers, maltsters, and tradesmen who formed the backbone
of the congregation. So too was John Langley who
at his death in 1799 left £400 to provide yearly
payments of £6 to the pastor, 10s. to the clerk,
and 5s. each to 38 poor members of the congregation. (fn. 34)
In the 19th century the Old Meeting suffered a
steady decline. Many of its poorer supporters were
attracted to newer meetings, (fn. 35) while economic
changes reduced the prosperity of the richer ones.
Apart from Langley's gift, there was no endowment to pay the pastor which probably accounted
for the succession of short pastorates, seven
between 1825 and 1850. In 1829 there were 250
attenders, (fn. 36) but in 1851 on a Sunday in March
there were not many over 50, and many of the pews
were out of repair. (fn. 37) In 1845 the Vicar of Warminster claimed that most of the poor that attended
did so from motives of gain. He had refused to
bury a Unitarian in the churchyard, (fn. 38) and the
vigour of his attack on this, as on other sects, may
have furthered its decline. The last settled pastor
left in 1866, (fn. 39) and the chapel was closed in 1868.
The last communicants were members of the
family of Buckler and Wansey. (fn. 40) The meeting
house was sold in 1870, and in 1881 the proceeds
were assigned to augment the trust fund of the
Conigre Unitarian Church at Trowbridge. (fn. 41) The
endowment of Langley's charity passed, as the
donor had provided, to augment that of the other
charity he had founded. (fn. 42) The set of five pieces of
plate, also given by Langley in 1790, was eventually
deposited with the British and Foreign Unitarian
Association, and later lent to congregations in
London. (fn. 43)
The meeting house was later used as the Girls'
British School, (fn. 44) and was in 1962 used by the
Avenue School as an annexe. The building of 1704
has been little altered. It is very plain, of brick with
stone dressings and stone mullioned windows;
the double roof is supported in the centre by
massive square columns of timber.
The origin of the congregation of Independents
called the New Meeting is to be found in the dissatisfaction of some members of the Old Meeting
with the teaching of Samuel Bates, whom they suspected of Arianism. Within a few months of his
coming to Warminster Bates had offended the
Butler family, (fn. 45) and in 1709 John Butler, who had
been a trustee of the Old Meeting, certified a barn
or shop at the back of Richard Lott's house as a
place of worship. (fn. 46) Lott was no doubt the bellfounder of that name who worked in Common
Close, (fn. 47) so that the building was probably near
the site of the later meeting house. It seems that a
further secession from the Old Meeting to the New
took place in 1719, apparently occasioned both by
doctrinal difference and by a dispute over the copastorate of Joseph Pike. In 1715 Pike was associated with Bates at the Old Meeting, (fn. 48) but was
not approved by most of the congregation. A group,
led apparently by Nathaniel Butler, left and no
doubt joined those already worshipping in Common Close. (fn. 49) At the same time the doctrinal dispute
was renewed, the Old Meeting asserting its orthodoxy in an entry in the church book and the New
publishing a vindication of the secession written
by Pike. (fn. 50) The seceders were joined by some
families from the town who had been worshipping
at the Independent chapel at Horningsham, and
the congregation built a meeting house in Common
Close which was licensed early in 1720. (fn. 51) Although
at first clearly inferior to the Old Meeting in wealth
and numbers, it included several prosperous
families such as the Baylys, Butlers, Slades, Adlams, and Aldridges. In 1734 four members united
to buy the freehold of the chapel, and in 1754 it
was vested in trustees who included a maltster, a
tanner, a clothier, and two woolstaplers.
Little is known about the size of the congregation
in the first half of the 18th century. Daniel Fisher,
minister from 1752 to 1771, was said to have added
many members, and also kept a boarding school.
Thomas Gibbons, 1786-93, was evidently a zealous
pastor who began to hold services on Monday
evenings in a house at the Common. (fn. 52) He also
began a Sunday School at a house in Portway, and
during his ministry village evangelization began
with the building of a chapel at Sutton Veny. (fn. 53)
Gibbons's successor, Edward Dudley Jackson, was
a powerful preacher, whose influence made the
chapel too small for the crowds that wished to hear
him. In 1798 it was pulled down except for the
front wall and rebuilt with new galleries and pews.
He continued the work at the Common, expounding the Pilgrim's Progress on winter evenings, until
in 1802 a chapel was built there in Bread Street so
that evening services could be held on weekdays. (fn. 54)
A girls' school held on Saturday afternoons at the
Bread Street chapel was also begun during his
pastorate. After Jackson's early death in 1803,
Joseph Berry carried on the work of his predecessors with vigour. The Sunday School flourished, and
many members were added to the congregation.
During his time chapels were built at Hindon, Heytesbury, and Codford St. Mary. It was probably
due to these vigorous pastorates that the Common
Close society was by far the largest in the town in
1829, when its congregation numbered 900, and
150 attended at the Bread Street chapel. (fn. 55) In 1836
school rooms for the Sunday School were built at
a cost of over £1,000, and three years later a further
£2,000 was spent on the entire rebuilding of the
chapel. In 1846 side galleries were added, so that
the accommodation was 700, and an organ was
installed. In March 1851 the morning congregation numbered 292, afternoon 232, and evening
470, and there were 140 pupils at the Sunday
School. (fn. 56) Classrooms and a vestry, designed by
W. J. Stent, were added to the north of the chapel
in 1862, (fn. 57) and in the same year open stalls replaced
the old pews. (fn. 58)
In the 19th century bequests for the benefit of
poor members of the congregation were made by
Thomas Morgan (£200 in 1809), John Barnes
(£200 in 1837), John Everitt (£100 in 1838), Jane
Rebbeck (£100 in 1847), and Anne Butt (£100 in
1865). These sums produced in the 1950's about
£20 a year, which was distributed to needy members in sums of £1 and under. Morgan also left
£100 for the benefit of the Sunday School, and in
1894 Albert Lucas left £100 to provide a choir
picnic fund. Caroline Carpenter's gift of £50 in
1901-2 was to provide a yearly distribution of
coal, and is still so used. (fn. 59) A house and malthouse
in Common Close were bought in 1886, and the
income, which amounted to £18 a year in 1903,
was applied to general chapel expenses. (fn. 60) In 1907
W. F. Morgan left the reversion of £5,000 to the
congregation for general expenses and to buy a
manse. No. 22 Boreham Road was bought in 1930.
In that year Frank Moody left £100 to provide
an income which was to be spent on giving parcels
of groceries to poor members at Christmas. (fn. 61)
The two Quakers who were presented in 1674 (fn. 62)
were the forerunners of a small group which
appeared openly after the Toleration Act. One of
them was joint author of a pamphlet containing an
apology for Quakers directed to the people of
Warminster in 1693. (fn. 63) The house of James Hedges
was certified for Quaker worship in 1701; (fn. 64) it may
have been the building in Common Close which
was remembered as a Quaker meeting house in the
19th century although it had long been converted
into a malthouse. (fn. 65) There were still a few Quakers
in the town in 1783, (fn. 66) but the last one died in 1794. (fn. 67)
Their burial ground was in a field near Cley Hill,
where it could still be seen in Daniell's time. (fn. 68)
Methodist preachers first visited Warminster in
1753, and held services in cottages at the Common
for about three years. (fn. 69) John Wesley preached in the
town in 1758, (fn. 70) but no group formed until 1770,
when Warminster was termed a new place with
14 members. (fn. 71) It met in Back Lane, where a house
was licensed in 1773, (fn. 72) but soon encountered cruel
persecution. On one occasion the pulpit and
stools were taken from the meeting house and
broken into fragments which were hung on the
direction post at Emwell Cross, and on another the
fire engine played water over the preacher. Two
of the ringleaders were prosecuted and bound over
at the Assizes in 1773, (fn. 73) but the society was reduced
to 6 members, and dissolved in 1776. (fn. 74)
From 1780 a group of poor people met privately
in the town; in 1789 they obtained a room at the
junction of Pound Street and West Street, (fn. 75) but it
was used only for prayer meetings and scripture
meetings. Until 1804 all Methodists in the town
attended the parish church and took the sacrament
there. In that year the group built a chapel in Chain
Street (now George Street). (fn. 76) About 1818 the
congregation was torn by internal dissension; some
of the oldest members were expelled, many others
left, and numbers were reduced by nearly half. (fn. 77)
In 1829, however, there were 200 attenders, (fn. 78) and in
1835 92 members. (fn. 79) Further strife followed, and
in 1850, according to William Daniell, perhaps a
jaundiced witness, the cause was languishing and
saddled with an oppressive debt. (fn. 80) In 1851 the
average attendances at morning and evening
services were 50 and 90 respectively, and there was
a Sunday School with 25 pupils. (fn. 81) In 1861, however,
the society had recovered sufficiently to rebuild the
chapel, to a design by W. J. Stent. (fn. 82) An organ by
Nelson Hall was installed in 1862. (fn. 83)
From the earliest visits of Methodists to Warminster Common in the 1750's, there is a fairly
continuous record of prayer meetings, scripture
readings and preaching in cottages there by groups
more or less influenced by Methodist teaching. (fn. 84)
Typical of them was probably that held for many
years in the house of Jeremiah Payne, a blind man,
where ten or a dozen people regularly met for
reading and prayer on Sunday evenings. In 1803
the Methodists from the town borrowed the Independent Chapel in Bread Street and held services
for a short time. In 1807 a fresh start was made at
a cottage in King Lane where services were held on
Sunday afternoons and Friday evenings. It was
enlarged in 1809, but still proving insufficient, the
Independent Chapel was again borrowed for
Sunday evenings, and used until 1818. In that year
the town Methodists left the Common; their leaving
was either a cause or a consequence of the quarrels
which took place among them at that time. The
work was taken up by a group of those whom they
had expelled, and especially by William Daniell.
Daniell, who was styled in his later days the
Bishop of Warminster Common, has left a vivid
description of his work there. Even before 1818 he
had been active in forming a Bible Association and
holding 'Christian Experience' meetings. When he
began services at the Bread Street chapel, only
four or five members took an active part, while a
gang of men and youths interrupted them with
curses and stones, breaking the lanterns and
damaging the clothes of the worshippers. 'I have
been sometimes obliged', wrote Daniell, 'to stop
the service, and go and lay hold of the offender, and
by physical force, single-handed, drag him out
from among the congregation and throw him out
of the door.' In spite of such annoyances, which
only abated very slowly, the cause prospered, and
the cottage used on Sunday afternoons was often
crowded to suffocation. In 1827 the congregation
was able to build its own chapel, in what was afterwards called Chapel Street, with accommodation
for 300. Sunday afternoon attendances soon rose
from 50 to 250, and a new gallery was made in
1838. In 1841 the congregation suffered from the
zeal of the new vicar, Arthur Fane, whose opposition lasted until 1846. In spite of this a new vestry
was built in 1844, containing a boiler which could
provide tea for 500 people in 40 minutes. In 1851
average attendances at the afternoon and evening
services were 170 and 150 respectively, and there
was a Sunday School 160 strong. (fn. 85) Daniell had
always concentrated on the instruction of children
since the earliest days of his work at the Common,
holding tea meetings, catechizing, and distributing
tracts among them. In 1846 a schoolroom was built
for the school.
Daniell's work continued until his death in 1860. (fn. 86)
The cause had never been affiliated to the Wesleyan
Conference; the chapel and two houses in Bread
Street, bought in 1844, were vested in trustees who
were to allow Daniell to use it for life. After his death
the meeting seems to have languished. The chapel
was let to the Salvation Army later in the century, (fn. 87)
and is still occupied by them in 1963.
An Independent Methodist Chapel in Pound
Street was licensed for worship in 1842. (fn. 88) It provided accommodation for 150, and in 1851 the
average attendance at three Sunday services was
between 40 and 60, while 25 children attended the
Sunday School. (fn. 89) The congregation still survives
in 1963.
No early Baptist congregation formed in Warminster, and any Baptists from the town attended
the ancient chapel at Crockerton. (fn. 90) In 1810, however, Ebenezer Chapel was built in Meeting House
Lane (now North Row). The congregation, small
at first, gradually increased, (fn. 91) and in 1829 numbered
250. (fn. 92) On a Sunday in 1851 the attendance at
morning and evening services was 160 and 175
respectively. (fn. 93) A schoolroom was built in 1858; (fn. 94) in
1861 the organ was moved from the gallery to a
platform behind the pulpit, and the old square pews
were replaced by stalls. (fn. 95) The meeting received an
important bequest in 1913, when J.E. Halliday left
the reversion of his estate, amounting to some
£17,000. (fn. 96)
A Christian Scientist Meeting began in the town
in the 1930's, and in 1963 was still meeting in the
former police station in Ash Walk.
In 1822 a small burial ground for the use of the
nonconformists of the town was laid out on the
Boreham road. (fn. 97) Its contemporary railings and
gates and a small free-standing entrance arch of
stone, inscribed Mors Janua Vitae, still remain.
The ground was levelled and turfed and the stones
arranged round the walls in 1950. (fn. 98) In 1907 W. F.
Morgan left £100 to the trustees to provide wages
for a caretaker. (fn. 99)