PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY.
In 1658
Richard Taverner, Vicar of Hillingdon, together
with other local clergy, including Robert Hall, Perpetual Curate of Colnbrook (Bucks.), engaged in
a public dispute with Quakers at West Drayton. (fn. 67)
Although both Taverner and Thomas Godbolt of St.
Margaret's, Uxbridge, probably remained in the
district for a time after their ejection in 1660, (fn. 68) early
nonconformist activity centred on three ministers
ejected from livings outside the Uxbridge area. Of
these the most influential was Hezekiah Woodward
(1590-1675), ejected minister of Bray (Berks.), a
noted schoolmaster and educational reformer. (fn. 69)
Woodward was joined in Uxbridge by Hugh Butler,
ejected from the living of Beaconsfield (Bucks.),
'a solid divine, and very grave person', (fn. 70) and Robert
Hall, former soldier, schoolmaster, and Curate of
Colnbrook. (fn. 71) The precise date of the earliest Uxbridge meetings is uncertain. Woodward was said
in 1669 to have been preaching in the town for three
or four years, (fn. 72) but his activities probably began
between 1662 and 1664 when the Vicar of Hillingdon
reported two 'very great sectaries' in the parish and
mentioned burials and home baptisms conducted
without his knowledge. (fn. 73) By 1669 seven regular nonconformist conventicles had been established in Hillingdon and Uxbridge. Three of these were probably
Quaker meetings, (fn. 74) but the remaining four appear
to have been related and are probably identifiable
as early meetings of what subsequently emerged as
the Presbyterian (later Congregational) body. (fn. 75) The
most important conventicle was said to be held in the
house of one Nicholls (probably William Nicholl).
Robert Hall preached in another Uxbridge house,
and also acted as a schoolmaster, (fn. 76) while Hugh
Butler held meetings in a house in Hillingdon. Woodward was said to live in the house of a rich tanner
named Buscold, (fn. 77) and to preach regularly on Sundays and some weekdays to 'the best of the town'. (fn. 78)
Uxbridge meetings held by the three preachers continued to be persecuted until 1672, (fn. 79) when William
Nicholl, who seems to have organized and coordinated their work, was granted licences permitting Woodward, Hall, and Butler to worship in
private houses in the town. (fn. 80) In the following year
all three were said to be holding regular meetings at
the 'Swan'. (fn. 81)
Little is known of nonconformist activity during
the period of persecution which began in 1675. (fn. 82)
There were said to be three nonconformists and 397
conformists in Hillingdon in 1676, (fn. 83) but the sect or
sects to which the nonconformists belonged is not
stated. Hezekiah Woodward died in 1675, and
Robert Hall two years later. Hugh Butler probably
continued to preach privately until his death in 1682,
but after this date nothing is known of the leadership of the body. The congregation probably had no
ministerial guidance until 1692, when James Waters
(d. 1725), a Presbyterian minister from Reigate
(Surr.), was invited to assume leadership of what
had by then merged as the Uxbridge Presbyterian
body. Meetings were held in private houses (fn. 84) until
1716 when the first chapel was built near the west
end of the High Street. (fn. 85) The building was licensed
for Presbyterian worship in 1717. (fn. 86) A view of the
chapel published a hundred years later shows an
unpretentious rectangular brick building with a
double-gabled roof and a small doorway under a flat
hood in the centre of one of its long sides. (fn. 87)
A period of decline seems to have followed the
intense nonconformist activity of the 17th century,
and by 1766 the number of Protestant dissenters in
Uxbridge was said to be decreasing rapidly. (fn. 88) The
Presbyterian congregation, however, had in 1753
purchased land adjoining the chapel, and by vesting
the property in a trust for supporting a resident
minister guaranteed future leadership of the body.
This steady income was probably instrumental in
attracting to the pastorate Dr. William Rutherford
(minister 1769-89), the Scottish divine and writer.
Rutherford purchased a large house in Park Road in
which he established 'a very numerous and respectable' school known as Uxbridge School. (fn. 89) The
foundation was continued by the succeeding minister, Thomas E. Beasley, and by 1792 a Sunday
school had also been established. New school premises adjoining the chapel were built in the early
19th century, (fn. 90) and structural alterations to both
school and chapel were made in 1828. These increased the capacity of the chapel to about 220
places.
The Presbyterian congregation seems to have
adopted the style Old Meeting House during the
early 19th century, and during the ministry of
Thomas Barker (1833-8) Congregational church
practices were adopted. Thomas H. Riches (coauthor of The History of Uxbridge) was appointed
deacon, and a system of monthly church meetings
established. Three services were held every Sunday,
and Communion once a month. By 1851 evening
worship had been discontinued, but approximately
80 persons attended each of the other two services.
Of 19th-century ministers the most notable was
Dr. Robert Vaughan (1795-1868) who held the
Uxbridge pastorate from 1857 to 1861. An outstanding Congregationalist divine and writer, Vaughan
was Professor of Modern History at University College, London, and the author of works on 17thcentury England. (fn. 91) During his ministry membership
seems to have declined, but after a period of intense
activity, it had increased to 70 by 1871. Activities
undertaken by the congregation then included tract
distribution, cottage prayer meetings, and sick visiting, and in 1878 a Band of Hope was instituted. The
Old Meeting Church joined the London Congregational Union in 1922, and about 1930 the first church
constitution was drafted. (fn. 92)
In 1883 the Old Meeting House was enlarged at
a cost of nearly £1,300. The west wall was rebuilt,
the three remaining 18th-century walls were raised
to support a new roof, and a small square tower and
vestries were added; part of the school premises were
pulled down at this time, but an extension was opened
for the Sunday school in 1889. (fn. 93) Services were still
held in the Old Meeting House in 1968, when there
were plans to demolish it and build a new Congregational church in Belmont Road. (fn. 94)
A second Congregational body, later known as
Providence Congregational Church, (fn. 95) was formed in
Uxbridge about 1777. Many of the original members
seem to have been drawn from the Anglican congregation of St. Margaret's chapel. Meetings were held
in the 'George' until 1795 when the first meetinghouse was built near the Lynch Green, (fn. 96) in the
garden of J. A. Glover, a wealthy merchant who
largely financed the project. The land around the
building was consecrated as a burial ground.
The first resident minister was appointed in 1803,
and during the ministry of George Redford (1812-
27) (fn. 97) membership increased from 27 in 1813 to 54
in 1818. A number of members at this period manifested Baptist leanings, and these are thought to
have seceded about 1840 to form a Baptist church. (fn. 98)
The meeting-house was refronted in the middle of
the 19th century in the neo-classical style and renovated about 1890 and again in 1902. By 1926 the
congregation had increased to 319 members. After
1933, however, membership declined rapidly. (fn. 99)
A mission organized by Providence Church was
established in a community room in Peachey Lane,
Cowley, in 1955 to serve the new council estate at
Cowley Peachey. The adult work, however, was not
a success, and no evening services were held after
1960. A Sunday school continued to meet in the
community room until 1963 when all work in the
building ceased. The children of Cowley nonconformists subsequently attended Sunday school in
Uxbridge. (fn. 1)
From the late 1950s discussion centred on plans
for the amalgamation of the two Congregational
churches in Uxbridge. They were finally united in
1962 as Uxbridge Congregational Church, which
thenceforth worshipped in the former Old Meeting
premises. In 1963 services were still occasionally
held in Providence Church (fn. 2) but soon afterwards the
building became derelict and was demolished in
1969. It had a tall two-storied cement-rendered
front with round-headed windows, pilasters, and
a central pediment flanked by scrolls above the
parapet.
Quaker activity in Uxbridge probably dates from
about 1655 when Edward Burrough, a pioneer of
the sect, was holding meetings at the house of
William Winch. (fn. 3) Burrough established a monthly
meeting in the town, but by 1658 he had left the
district, and John Sands of Hillingdon wrote to
George Fox requesting guidance for the Uxbridge
meeting. Whether Fox visited the parish is unknown,
but in 1659 he issued an encouraging broadside to
the Uxbridge Friends. Meetings probably continued
to be held in private houses in the parish. By 1669,
despite sporadic persecution, meetings were being
held in at least three houses in Uxbridge and in one
in Hillingdon. The Quaker society at this time appears to have been organized by three Uxbridge
tradesmen-Timothy Fry, a cooper named Edward
Swift, and Richard Hale, a collar-maker, said to be
a 'stiff sectary'. (fn. 4) By this date the Uxbridge meeting
was organized as part of the Longford Monthly
Meeting, and Uxbridge preachers attended the
Longford meetings. (fn. 5)
From about 1677 meetings were held in a rented
room in the 'George'. The congregation was frequently ejected and its ministers prosecuted during
this period, (fn. 6) but both George Fox and William Penn
visited the Uxbridge meeting. A meeting-house in
the George Close (off the modern York Road) was
built in 1692, and an adjoining plot was set aside as
a burial ground. At this date the meeting also owned
three cottages near the 'Catherine Wheel' and other
property on the Lynch Green. By 1724, however,
the Uxbridge meeting was in debt and poorly attended. The meeting-house was found to be in
a dangerous state and had to be rebuilt, with the help
of contributions from individuals and other meetings, in 1755. The meeting-house was again rebuilt
in 1818.
Enthusiasm in the Uxbridge meeting did not
revive until the late 18th century when the Hulls and
other wealthy Quaker families settled in the town
and assumed the care of the meeting. (fn. 7) The Hulls
were related by marriage to Joseph Pease, the first
Quaker M.P., and were friends of Elizabeth Fry, the
prison reformer, who visited the Uxbridge meeting
in 1823. (fn. 8) During the early 19th century Uxbridge
Friends played a prominent part in philanthropic
activities in the town, serving on the committees of
the school of industry, the savings bank, the board
of health, and other institutions. By 1851 the average
attendance at the morning meeting was 33. (fn. 9) Fourteen years later the Longford Monthly Meeting was
joined with Westminster and the Uxbridge meeting became independent. Subsequently the meeting,
now reduced to about 20 members, concerned itself
with educational and temperance work. In 1880
a free library was opened at the meeting-house, and
in 1883 a Sunday school for poor children was
instituted. Five years later an adult school was
established.
During the early 20th century the meeting again
declined, and by 1929 only about 4 persons regularly
attended the monthly meeting. With the influx of
population after 1930, however, interest again revived and weekly meetings were instituted. In 1962
the meeting-house was extended by the addition of
a schoolroom, kitchen, and cloakrooms. (fn. 10) The meeting-house, a plain rectangular building of brown
stock brick with a hipped roof and round-headed
windows, stands in its former burial ground, now
made into a garden. Apart from the additions of
1962, the building has remained almost unaltered
since 1818. Internally it is divided by a cross passage
into a larger and a smaller meeting room, said to
have been planned for the separate worship of men
and women. The wooden partitions of the passage
incorporated a number of double-hung panels which
could be raised when a combined meeting was held.
The larger room retains its original benches and
other fittings. (fn. 11)
During the 18th century nonconformist activity
in the parish seems to have been limited to meetings
of the established Quaker and Presbyterian (later
Congregational) bodies. (fn. 12) John Wesley preached in
Hillingdon and Uxbridge in 1754 and 1758, (fn. 13) but
there is no other evidence of 18th-century Methodist
activity. By 1851, however, there were five Methodist meetings in Hillingdon parish with a total
morning attendance of 290 persons. (fn. 14) In 1807 a
house in Uxbridge was registered as a meeting-place
for 'Calvinists'. (fn. 15) This was possibly a Calvinistic
Methodist meeting, (fn. 16) identifiable with that described
as 'Methodist' in 1810 when it was attended by
a family of Cowley dissenters. (fn. 17)
A room in Uxbridge was licensed for the use or
Wesleyan Methodists in 1821, (fn. 18) but meetings were
probably discontinued shortly afterwards. (fn. 19) There is
no evidence of further Methodist activity in the
parish until 1845 when meetings in Uxbridge were reestablished by members of a Wesleyan congregation
from Iver (Bucks.). Services were held in a room in
Baker's Yard until the erection in 1847 of a permanent chapel in New Windsor Street, a building
of brown stock brick with Gothic features. (fn. 20) The
new Methodist Central Hall was erected in 1930 at
the junction of High Street and Park Road, (fn. 21) and the
chapel in New Windsor Street became a Masonic
Hall. In 1957 Lawn Road Primitive Methodist congregation (fn. 22) was amalgamated with the former Wesleyan connexion in the Central Hall premises. (fn. 23)
A Primitive Methodist congregation was established in Uxbridge about 1864. (fn. 24) Services were held
initially in the open air, and later in the Belmont
Hall and the Union Hall, Windsor Street. A permanent chapel in Lawn Road was opened in 1876, (fn. 25)
and meetings were held there until 1957 when the
congregation was united with the Central Hall
Methodist body. (fn. 26)
Two further Methodist bodies were established in
the 20th century in areas of expanding population.
Yiewsley Central Methodist Hall, Fairfield Road,
was opened in 1927. It replaced a building (in 1964
the public library) which had been used since about
1873 by a small Primitive Methodist congregation. (fn. 27)
Building costs were met by private subscription and
a gift from Sir Joseph Rank, the flour miller. The
Central Hall was renovated and extended in 1959. (fn. 28)
Methodist meetings were held in a private house in
Park Way, Hillingdon, from 1932. A hall in Long
Lane was opened in 1933 (fn. 29) when the congregation
had 20 members. (fn. 30) In 1965 a permanent chapel with
seating for 120 persons was opened on an adjoining
site. (fn. 31)
Houses at Hillingdon and Colham Green were
registered for Baptist worship in 1817 and 1828
respectively. (fn. 32) Little is known of the organization
of the Baptist congregation during the 19th century. (fn. 33) Two cottages in Bonsey's yard were used for
Baptist worship during the 1830s, (fn. 34) and the Uxbridge Baptist body appears to have been joined
about 1840 by former members of Providence Congregational Church. (fn. 35) Meetings were held in the
market-house until a chapel (Montague Hall), a
plain yellow brick building in George Street, Uxbridge, was opened in 1856. (fn. 36) A Salem Baptist
congregation at Hillingdon Heath is said to have
been founded in 1847, although details of its history
are obscure. (fn. 37) By 1851 there were five Baptist meetings in Hillingdon parish with a total morning attendance of 294 persons. (fn. 38) Meetings of the Uxbridge
Baptist body seem to have been discontinued about
1900. Hillingdon Park Baptist Chapel in Hercies
Road was opened in 1931, (fn. 39) and extended in 1951. (fn. 40)
In 1963 the Hillingdon Heath Salem Baptist congregation met in premises in Uxbridge Road. (fn. 41)
Members of the West Drayton Baptist congregation
began missionary work in Yiewsley in 1897. Early
meetings were held in a cottage in Colham Avenue.
A church, styled the Tabernacle, in Colham Avenue,
was opened in 1900, and meetings were held there
until 1954 when a new chapel, also in Colham
Avenue, was erected. (fn. 42)
From about 1851 (fn. 43) a gospel mission (fn. 44) was organized
in conjunction with the Uxbridge Moor Ragged
School (fn. 45) which had occupied premises in Waterloo
Road since about 1846. Premises in Waterloo Road
were licensed for worship in 1858. (fn. 46) The mission was
then described as a Primitive Methodist connexion,
although its work at all periods appears to have been
of an undenominational character. A new building in
Waterloo Road was opened in 1864 to house the
mission services, reading room, and Sunday and day
schools. The late 19th century was marked by a decline in membership, and the day school was closed
in 1892. In 1903, however, a committee representing
the Uxbridge free churches was formed to administer the mission. The premises were extended in
1913, and a new mission hall on the opposite side of
Waterloo Road was opened in 1932. (fn. 47) The congregation operated as the Waterloo Road Mission until
1963, when the style Waterloo Road Free Church
was adopted. (fn. 48)
Some other nonconformist sects have held meetings, about which few details are known, in Uxbridge,
Hillingdon, and Yiewsley at various periods since
the mid 19th century. In 1850 there were said to be
meeting-houses in the parish for Independents,
Presbyterians, Quakers, and Wesleyans. Baptists
met in the market-house and the Mormons had a
room in George Yard. (fn. 49) Evening service in a Catholic
Apostolic church in Uxbridge, probably the successor of an Irvingite congregation founded in the
1830s, (fn. 50) was attended by an average of 30 persons in
1851. (fn. 51) Premises in Montague Road were licensed
for Catholic Apostolic worship in 1858, and continued in use until the building was rendered unsafe
by enemy action in 1940. It was demolished in the
following year. (fn. 52)
Meetings of the Latter Day Saints in Uxbridge
were attended by an average of 30 persons in 1851. (fn. 53)
Other 19th-century sects met in Emmanuel Church,
Yiewsley, which was registered between 1879 and
1893 for the worship of members of the Free Church
of England, and in the Mission Hall, Horton Lane,
Yiewsley, registered for undenominational worship
from 1885 to 1896. (fn. 54) The Blue Ribbon Gospel Temperance Mission met in the Public Rooms in Uxbridge High Street from 1884 to 1896. (fn. 55) Other
premises registered for undenominational worship
during the 20th century included 156a High Street,
Uxbridge, for the Uxbridge Pentecostal Mission
(1943), and Wimpole Hall, Wimpole Road, Yiewsley
(1956). (fn. 56) The Brethren registered Rockingham Hall,
the Lynch, in 1914, and the Gospel Hall, Cowley
Road, in 1927. (fn. 57) The Cowley Road premises were
still used by Exclusive Brethren in 1962. (fn. 58)
The Uxbridge Salvation Army corps was instituted in 1887. (fn. 59) Meetings were held in Jubilee Hall,
Bell Yard (on the site of the London Transport
station), until about 1899 when the corps appears to
have exchanged places of worship with the declining
Baptist congregation, meeting in Montague Hall.
Salvationist activity has since been concentrated in
the George Street premises. (fn. 60) The Yiewsley Salvation Army corps was founded in 1886 by Salvationists from Hounslow. Meetings were held in
a disused engine-house in Horton Road and later in
an adapted cattle shed in St. Stevens Road. The
present hall in Horton Road was opened in 1914. (fn. 61)
During the early 20th century about 100 persons
attended Sunday evening services. The premises
were extended in 1957, when the congregation had
about 35 members. By 1963 attendance had dwindled
to an average of 15 persons. (fn. 62) The Hillingdon Salvation Army corps was founded in 1932. Meetings
were held in a house in Nelgrove Road until 1938
when a wooden hall in Uxbridge Road was registered. (fn. 63) This was demolished in 1965 and a permanent hall, built on the same site, was opened in
1966. (fn. 64)
Christian Science meetings were held in private
houses in Uxbridge and Hillingdon from 1941 until
1959 when the former Lawn Road Methodist chapel
was purchased and reopened for Christian Science
worship. (fn. 65)
Spiritualist meetings were held in Villiers Hall,
Villier Street, Uxbridge, during the 1940s. (fn. 66) The
House of the Good Shepherd in Hinton Road,
registered in 1950 as a Spiritualist church, was still
in use in 1962. (fn. 67)