kids encyclopedia robot

High Pavement Chapel facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
High Pavement Unitarian Chapel
High Pavement Unitarian Church.JPG
Unitarian Chapel on High Pavement, now the Pitcher and Piano public house
Country England
Previous denomination Unitarian
Architecture
Heritage designation Grade II listed
Architect(s) Stuart Colman
Completed 1876
Closed 1982

High Pavement Chapel is a redundant church building in Nottingham. It is now the Pitcher and Piano public house and is Grade II listed. It was built as, and for most of its existence operated as, a Unitarian place of worship.

Tram with Pitcher and Piano cocktail bar, Nottingham
The building seen from the south, with a Nottingham Express Transit tram in the foreground

History

By August 1662, under the Act of Uniformity, two Nottingham ministers, John Whitlock and William Reynolds, had been deprived of their living at St Mary's Church, Nottingham and a third, John Barret, of his at St Peter's; the three men left town to comply with the Five Mile Act 1665. However, they continued to preach in the area, including houses in Nottingham's Bridlesmith Gate and Middle Pavement. This led to the foundation of a permanent chapel in High Pavement in 1690.

By 1735 the congregation had established itself as liberal (in the tradition of English Presbyterianism) and in 1802 as Unitarian. In 1758 the appointment of a new junior minister, Isaac Smithson, caused a schism. The senior minister withdrew to a new chapel in nearby Halifax Place. This schism lasted until 1775 when the two congregations merged. The original chapel was considerably rebuilt in 1805.

In 1864 the congregation opened a daughter church, Christ Church, Peas Hill. This survived until 1932.

The current building was opened in 1876, built to a design of the architect Stuart Colman, of Bristol. It was used as a place of worship for Unitarians until 1982. It was then converted into the Nottingham Lace Museum, but this venture proved financially unviable. The building was then converted to its current use, as a Pitcher and Piano public house. The current congregation, Nottingham Unitarians, affiliated with the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, are now based nearby at 3 Plumptre Street, Nottingham NG1 1JL, a former lace factory where items of lace were finished.

Stained glass

  • East window 1904, by Morris & Co., to designs by Philip Burne-Jones
  • North aisle war memorial window, 1925, by Kempe & Co
  • Sunday School memorial window, 1906, by Henry Holiday
  • North transept north window 1890, by H Enfield

Ministers

Organists

  • Henry Farmer 1839 – 1879
  • William Lawrence ???? – 1883 – 1885 – ????
  • William Wright ???? – 1879 – 1888 – ???? (later organist of Christ Church, New Radford)
  • Charles Lymn ???? – 1902 – 1914 – ????
  • H. Freestone ca. 1916
  • Charles Edward Blyton Dobson 1920 – 1925
  • Wilfred Davies ca. 1960s
kids search engine
High Pavement Chapel Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.