Presbyterian Chapel, Wilton

A minister is mentioned in 1715 and a meeting had been established by the 1720s. This was not a wealthy congregation although they did have some prominent Anglical support in the mid 18th century. John Furz, born in Wilton in 1717, attended the meeting as a young man and later became a successful preacher there. So successful that the congregation rose to 100 people and the rector became alarmed and called upon the mayor to close down the meeting. However the mayor, with the Earl of Pembroke present, instead read the Riot Act to the rabble who had been incited to break up the meeting. This probably happened in the 1740s and in 1745 a meeting house certificate for a house, occupied by Joseph Young, mentions John Furz. The meeting house in Crow Lane was built in the mid 18th century. The end of this meeting is unclear but we do know that the Crow Lane Congregational church was built on the site of the Presbyterian chapel in the late 18th century. It may be that the Presbyterians became Congregationalists in the late 18th or early 19th centuries.