NONCONFORMITY.

Six protestant nonconformists were enumerated in Newnham in 1676. (fn. 55) Houses were registered for dissenting worship in 1792, 1797, 1814, and 1822, and in 1825 David Prain, minister, registered two houses; (fn. 56) there was a chapel near the Soudley iron-works in 1839. (fn. 57) The Newnham and Blakeney Tabernacle was an Independent chapel founded in 1825; (fn. 58) the chapel, in the Littledean road, was built in 1826 and had a congregation of 94 in 1851. (fn. 59) It has a two-story front with round-headed windows with Gothic glazing. A new Congregational church in the High Street, a Gothic building in stone on a site given by Alfred and Tom Goold, was opened in 1864; (fn. 60) the building in the Littledean road was thereafter used for various secular purposes, (fn. 61) but for about fifteen years until c. 1962 served as a chapel for Plymouth Brethren. (fn. 62) The Congregational church, which had a resident minister by 1856 and until 1927, (fn. 63) was put up for sale in 1968, and services were held thereafter in the former chapel which had become a parish hall. (fn. 64) A house was registered in 1838 for use by Wesleyans, (fn. 65) and in 1851 it provided 50 sittings and had a congregation of 23. (fn. 66) Later evidence of the meeting has not been found.

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