Listed Building record MDO19235 - Presbyterian Meeting House, Colliton Street, Dorchester

Site of Presbyterian meeting-house on the north side of Colliton Street. Several ejected ministers were resident or actve in the vicinity of Dorchester in the late 17th century. Of these, William Benn, former rector of All Saints, Dorchester, and Joshua Churchill, former vicar of Fordington, are credited with being the originators and first pastors of this society. Meetings were first held in the Priory. The meeting house in Colliton Street was built in 1718-19. Increasingly heterodox preaching in the 18th century led to a Trinitarian secession in 1776, when the Congregational church in Durngate Street was opened, the old meeting-house then continuing in Unitarian occupation until the demise of the congregation in the late 19th century. It later served as a Liberal Club, and latterly as a builder's store. It was demolished in 1976. <2>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 1, 112 (Monograph). SDO148.

'(5) Former Presbyterian Meeting House in Colliton Street was built in 1719; the congregation later became Unitarian. It is now much altered and used as a garage.

The S. front has a moulded wood cornice, three symmetrically placed windows with segmental heads and a brick string arched over the central window; modern garage doors have been inserted. The N. front is partly masked but repeats the design of the S. front. In both the E. and W. walls are five blocked windows. The floor level has been lowered and the galleries removed; the only original features remaining inside are a deep coved cornice and a central lantern light.'

<2> Draper, J, 1978, The Non-conformists Meeting House, 34 Colliton Street, Dorchester (Article in serial). SDO9550.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1486476 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:38PM