Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Origins
The birth of Mill Hill Chapel
As early as 1674, only 12 years after the Great Ejection, the Dissenters of Leeds built a chapel at Mill Hill on what is now City Square. When Royal authority was reasserted with the Restoration in 1660, many religious radials were forced into exile. As a consequence, the Great Ejection followed the Act of Uniformity in 1662. Several thousand Puritan ministers were forced out of their positions in the Church of England following the restoration of Charles II, as they refused to subscribe to the 39 Articles of Religion, ‘The Articles of the Church of England’, which included acknowledgement of the doctrine of the Trinity. One of the key founders of Mill Hill Chapel was the father of the historian Ralph Thoresby who guided the chapel towards the Dissenting movement, part of which would become Unitarianism.
In 1672 the congregation of Puritan Dissenters which formed around Reverend Richard Stretton, Cornelius Todd and others began meeting at Sibell Dawson’s house in Alms House Garth. Mill Hill Chapel was first built in 1674 near this Garth and opened for worship on March 25th.
Those clergymen who were seen as gifted preachers and highly educated debaters, like Richard Stretton, tended to be followed by loyal members of their former congregations. The 1672 Act of Indulgence conceded to ‘dissenters’ the right to worship and so Mill Hill Chapel began meeting publicly.
The Chapel Building
The current building was granted Grade II* listed status in 1963, meaning that it is “a structure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection” (Campbell, G. 2001). Its architects Henry Bowman and J. S. Crowther designed it in 1848 in the Dissenting Gothic style. Leeds Civic Trust also recognised its importance within the city with a Blue Plaque. The original Chapel cost £400 and was in a plain neo-Classical style. In today’s money that is around £76,304.65! (Bank of England, 2023). The money for the original building was raised by John Thoresby who was a proprietary shareholder, with the aid of £50 contributed by the Leeds Antiquary. In 1847, the original Chapel was demolished, and replaced with the New Chapel on the same site, which opened on March 25th. Some pillars of the original building were moved to Meanwood Park where they still survive.
Pillar from the original Mill Hill Chapel building.
Bibliography
- Bank Of England (2023) Inflation Calculator. Bank of England. (Accessed 4 December 2023)
- Campbell, G. (2001) Heritage law and policy: listed buildings and conservation areas. Bembridge, Isle of Wight: Palladian Law Pub.
- Damo (2014) Mill Hill Unitarian Chapel. 3D Warehouse. (Accessed 4 December 2023)
- Strutt, L. (2023) Column at Northeast end of Meanwood Park at NGR 2789 3758, Non-Civil Parish – 1255590: Historic England. Historic England. (Accessed 6 December 2023)
- Book, Storye (2018). Former Mill Hill Chapel Leeds (Image). Wikimedia Commons. (Accessed 12 June 2024)
