NONCONFORMITY.
Two of the ministers
removed after the Restoration, Daniel Capel
(d. 1679), who was rector of Shipton Moyne, and
William Becket, who was curate of Compton
Abdale, settled in Stroud; (fn. 15) they were possibly
encouraged to do so by the tradition of nonconformity which is evident there from 1576. (fn. 16)
Becket was said to be a minister at Stroud in 1690 (fn. 17)
and presumably served the Presbyterian community
which was the earliest dissenting group to build a
chapel in the town and which, adopting the
Congregational (or Independent) system, remained
the most flourishing group in the 19th century.
The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel in 1763,
and during the early 19th century nonconformity
expanded and diversified with the arrival of the
Baptists and Primitive Methodists and the extension
of the Congregationalists into the outlying parts of
the parish; between 1799 and 1844 35 meetingplaces in the parish were registered for worship. (fn. 18)
Stroud was also a centre for the establishment of the
nonconformist sects in the surrounding parishes: a
Stroud minister registered a house in Bisley parish
in 1814, (fn. 19) another registered houses at Miserden,
Painswick, and Sheepscombe, in 1816 and 1817, (fn. 20)
and the Congregational minister registered houses
at Birdlip and Cranham in 1820. (fn. 21) Nonconformity
continued to flourish in the town in the late 19th
century; c. 1890 it was said that the Sunday schools
of the six main chapels had a total attendance of over
1,400. (fn. 22)
In the late 17th century Presbyterians met in a
barn in Silver Street, evidently that belonging to
Robert Viner which was licensed for worship in
1689. A Presbyterian meeting-house, later known as
the Old Meeting, was built c. 1705 in the street
which became known as Chapel Street; it had a
resident minister from 1713 (fn. 23) and in 1735 there were
said to be 100 members in the meeting (fn. 24) but it only
had 52 members in 1742. (fn. 25) Houses in Stroud
registered for worship in 1732 and 1734 and one at
Quarhouse registered in 1741 were perhaps used by
associated groups of Presbyterians. (fn. 26) In the early
19th century the meeting, which adopted the
Congregational system, rapidly increased in size
under the active ministry from 1811 of John
Burder: the chapel was enlarged in 1813 and
additional places of worship in the town were
registered in 1826 and 1833. (fn. 27) In 1835, when the
Old Meeting had c. 210 members, the building of a
large new chapel in Bedford Street was begun; it was
opened in 1837 and thereafter the worshippers at the
new chapel and the Old Meeting formed separate
churches, each with its own minister. (fn. 28) In 1851
congregations of c. 500 were claimed for each
chapel. (fn. 29) In 1970 the two congregations were
formed into a single church with a membership of
c. 100 and the Old Meeting ceased to be used. (fn. 30) It is
a rectangular stone building which was remodelled
in Romanesque style in 1844, largely at the expense
of Samuel Marling, a prominent member of the
church. (fn. 31) The Bedford Street chapel, which was
designed by Charles Baker, (fn. 32) has an imposing
street front in classical style; at the north-east corner
a circular porch gives access to the Sunday school
rooms on the ground floor and the chapel above.
Groups of Congregationalists under the Stroud
minister, John Burder, registered houses at Thrupp
in 1817, 1828, and 1834 and at Bowbridge in 1842;
the two last were to be shared with the Baptists. (fn. 33)
Congregationalists (or Independents) were also
established in the western division of the parish in
the early 19th century and it was probably that group
that registered houses at Paganhill in 1799, at
Ruscombe in 1802, and at Bread Street in 1810. (fn. 34)
An Independent chapel at Ruscombe was replaced
by a new chapel near by in 1828 (fn. 35) which had
congregations of 200-300 in 1851. (fn. 36) For several years
the minister's salary was paid by Henry Wyatt of
Farmhill Park (d. 1847), who also supported the
schools attached to the chapel. (fn. 37) Burder registered a
house at Paganhill in 1825, (fn. 38) and an Independent
chapel was built in the village in 1835 and had
congregations of up to 50 in 1851. (fn. 39) It was presumably the chapel north-west of the road junction in
the main village which William Holmes owned with
the adjoining smith's shop in 1842; (fn. 40) from 1869,
however, that chapel was used by Baptists. (fn. 41)
John Wesley preached at Stroud in 1742 and 1744,
and between 1746 and 1753 he made several visits to
a community of his followers at Wallbridge. (fn. 42) In
1763 the Wesleyans built a chapel on the west side of
Acre Street, (fn. 43) and from 1765 until his death in 1791
Wesley visited Stroud in March each year to preach
at the chapel. (fn. 44) In 1851 the chapel had congregations
of 300-400. (fn. 45) Until the early 19th century the
Sunday services were timed so as not to conflict
with those at the parish church and many of the
church congregation also attended the chapel. (fn. 46) In
1876 a new Wesleyan chapel was built in Castle
Street and by 1891 the old chapel, a polygonal stone
building, was occupied by the Salvation Army (fn. 47)
which retained it in 1971. The Stroud Methodist
church had an adult membership of c. 80 in 1971,
and the chapel in Castle Street, a large stone
building in the classical style, had Sunday morning
congregations of c. 50. (fn. 48) George Whitefield preached
at Stroud several times between 1739 and 1742, (fn. 49)
but those inhabitants who favoured his brand of
Methodism were evidently served by the near-by
Rodborough Tabernacle. A preaching-room was
being supported by William Dallaway of Brimscombe Mill at his death in 1776, when he left it for
the use of a fortnightly lecture by a Methodist. (fn. 50)
Four hundred Baptists were recorded at 'Stroudwater' c. 1715, (fn. 51) an enumeration that, if correct, is
likely to have included several surrounding parishes
as well as Stroud. No later record of the sect has been
found before 1824 when the Baptists under their
minister, Henry Hawkins, built a chapel in John
Street. (fn. 52) Congregations of 500 and more were
claimed for it in 1851. (fn. 53) In 1971 it had a congregation of c. 100. (fn. 54) For some years after 1894 another
Baptist group met in a former Unitarian church in
Lansdown. (fn. 55) From 1869 there was a Baptist chapel
in the small building in Paganhill village mentioned
above. It was replaced in 1965 by a new chapel south
of Farmhill House, which had congregations of
50-100 in 1971. (fn. 56)
The Primitive Methodists, who had a meeting
in the town by 1825, (fn. 57) built a chapel on the north
side of Parliament Street in 1836. In 1851 it had a
congregation of c. 200. (fn. 58) After the Methodist Union
in 1932 the Primitive Methodists joined with the
Wesleyans to form the Stroud Methodist church. (fn. 59)
The chapel in Parliament Street later became the
Playhouse theatre.
A Plymouth Brethren room was opened in Acre
Street in 1852; (fn. 60) by 1882 there was another room
at the north end of Bath Street, (fn. 61) and by 1897 there
was a Brethren chapel at Thrupp. (fn. 62) A Unitarian
church was built on the south side of Lansdown
in 1876 (fn. 63) and, as mentioned above, was afterwards
used by Baptists; later used successively as a cinema
and as the headquarters of the Liberal association,
in 1971 the building housed a school of dancing. (fn. 64)
Christian Scientists were established in London
Road by 1922, and from c. 1932 they occupied the
Gothic stone building on the south-east side of
Lansdown (fn. 65) which was built as a temperance hall
in 1879. (fn. 66) A branch of the Church of the Latter Day
Saints occupied Godolphin House on the south side
of Nelson Street before its demolition in 1958, (fn. 67)
and subsequently a new church was built there.
The Roman Catholic church and convent at
Beeches Green in the ancient parish of Painswick
are treated above under that parish. (fn. 68)