The Grove Meeting House, Bradford on Avon

This is the oldest surviving non conformist chapel in the town. In 1672 the houses of John Holton and Francis Yerbury were registered for worship and in 1698 the chapel was built. Wealthy clothiers, such as the Yerburys, were involved in the early years and the congregation, which numbered 400 in the first part of the 18th century, was Presbytarian. From 1739 they inclined towards Unitarianism but did not adopt the Unitarian liturgy until 1793. The church was in decline from 1777 to 1810 and there was hardly anyone left in the congregation by 1815. At that point the chapel was let to a group of Independents who had seceded from the Morgan's Hill chapel. In 1823 they built the Zion chapel on a site opposite The Grove. This congregation became Baptists, after being joined by a group from the Old Baptist Chapel in1842, and, after 1873, they took over The Grove Meeting House, which they used for a Sunday School until 1939 when the Zion congregation moved back into The Grove and used it as their chapel.