York Unitarian Church
We are almost at the end of the bulk of our most recent Yorkshire adventure (boo!), but before we hit our finale there are a few York churches to see along the way!
We're starting with York Unitarian Church which we found on our walk out of the carpark.
Obviously Unitarian views weren't legal, but in 1813 that all changed, and the views soon came to York. When the big cities all expanded so did their Unitarian congregations, but York didn't grow and so neither did its congregation. By 1672 the law was changed again, this time allowing dissenting worship in private homes. The congregation didn't have a meeting place, there was no church for them as yet, so they met in the homes of people like Lady Hewley and this continued until a formal building could be found and a proper congregation was established. Lady Hewley also founded other projects within her beliefs such as the Tanner Row almshouses.
Lady Hewley who was their financial supporter, but also a Protestant dissenter and widow of Sir John Hewley was caught up in a nasty legal battle which cost the congregation its finances and as a result ministers for the church came and went, or in some cases they combined their role with other employment. A prime example of this was George Saville Woods who was an MP at the same time of being a minister!
The Unitarian church was already on the backfoot and the two world wars which plagued the nation didn't exactly help matters either, but retired minister Sydney Knight and his successor Margaret Kirk soon managed to turn this around and in no time the congregation managed to stabilize and made their part time ministers work. We don't actually know when it was that they found their own building, but find it they did!
The actual church is in the form of a Greek Cross and was built in around 1692, but otherwise not much can be said for how the congregation came by it, especially as the building predates the congregation. Regardless they've thrived to this day and caused a stir along the way.
The name most associated with this church isn't Lady Hewley, although she is very much to thank for the congregation. It is actually Charles Wellbeloved who was a minister of the chapel. He was involved with saving the city walls of York from being demolished and used as building materials and also ending the malpractices at the local Asylum. The man also added to his already extensive CV founding the York Mechanics' Institute, wrote a guide to York Minster, and even kickstarted an appeal to raise funds after a fire at the minster destroyed a screen. He went on to be Principal of Manchester College which was esteemed for training ministers and lay students, all the while remaining minister for the congregation until his death. Quite an impressive man!
So while the church still stands, so does the memory of these impressive people who worshipped against popular belief. But in terms of the history of this site, that's all folks!
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