Salt Lane Presbyterian Chapel, Salisbury

There were Presbyterians in the city during the 17th century and in 1676 six houses were licensed for Presbyterian worship. After 1673 ill will erupted in some parts of the city against them and meetings were interupted and some members of the congregation imprisoned. There was still a strong congregation and after the Toleration Act of 1689 they grew in numbers and influence. In 1690 the minister was said to have an ample living of £40 a year and by 1715 the congregation numbered 500. The meeting house in Salt Lane was built in the early 18th century, which was a prosperous time for the chapel. The history in the later 18th is obscure and is mainly a story of decline, including a secession to the Congregationalists in mid-century. By 1773 the chapel may have existed in name only, with no congregation, and there was definitely no congregation in 1815, when the premises were said to be abandoned and ruinous and were sold to the Wesleyan Methodists for a schoolroom and minister's house.