---
title: "Shrewsbury Unitarian Church"
description: "Located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. Built 1839-40 rebuilding of the 1715-16 chapel; High Street facade 1885; congregation founded 1662. Grade II. Classical facade of 1885 style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Unitarian Church","Shropshire","Shrewsbury","Grade II","Classical","A B Deakin","John Carline"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/shrewsbury-unitarian-church"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T02:40:09.056Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T16:00:55.554Z"
location: "Shrewsbury, Shropshire"
country: "England"
county: "Shropshire"
town: "Shrewsbury"
address: "High Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY1 1LR"
postcode: "SY1 1LR"
built: "1839-40 rebuilding of the 1715-16 chapel; High Street facade 1885; congregation founded 1662"
architect: "John Carline (1839-40); A B Deakin (facade 1885)"
denomination: "Unitarian Church"
grade: "II"
style: "Classical facade of 1885"
materials: "Ashlar-faced facade"
website: "http://www.ukunitarians.org.uk/shrewsbury/"
openingHours: "December and January: open 1pm to 3pm. Other months: open Tuesday 2pm to 4pm and Thursday 1pm to 4pm."
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1254520"
gridReference: "SJ 491 124"
accessNotes: "Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby"
---

# Shrewsbury Unitarian Church

Shrewsbury Unitarian Church is a Grade II meeting house on the High Street in Shrewsbury: the town's first dissenting congregation, founded in 1662, behind an ashlar facade of 1885 that still carries the inscription "The Church founded 1662".

## Overview

Historic England lists the Unitarian Church (list entry 1254520, designated 17 November 1995). The listing records a Unitarian church of 1839-40 with a facade of 1885, ashlar-faced, of three bays divided by pilasters, with central pedimented double doors flanked by round-arched windows, a deep cornice and a central pedimented cartouche inscribed "The Church founded 1662". The interior has a lobby and vestry added to the front of an earlier chapel, a north-east gallery with an early-eighteenth-century panelled front, dado panelling and a central pulpit to the south-west.

Francis Tallents and John Bryan, ejected from St Mary's and St Chad's in 1662, gathered the congregation. A chapel on this site was built after Toleration (accounts differ between a 1689 garden chapel and a licensed building of 1691), enlarged in 1703, and demolished by a Jacobite mob in 1715. It was rebuilt the following year at government expense. John Carline rebuilt the fabric in 1839-40 when High Street was widened. In 1885 A. B. Deakin of Shrewsbury designed the present street facade, allowing meeting rooms over the former forecourt. The congregation's own history records a royal charter granted by George I, now hung over the pulpit.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1254520](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1254520)
- [Shrewsbury Unitarians: Our History](https://www.shrewsburyunitarians.org.uk/about/our-history/)
- [VCH Shropshire: Unitarian Chapel](http://www.vchshropshire.org/chapels/shrewuni.htm)