The Congregational Church of Protestant Dissenters now assembling in the Old Chapel, Arthur-Street, was formed in the township of Sweeney, in the year 1662, and the Rev. Rowland Nevet, A, M., ejected from the vicarage of Oswestry by the Act of Uniformity, was its first pastor. Mr. Nevet laboured in the ministry for thirty years; seventeen as a clergyman of the established church, and thirteen as a dissenting preacher. Calamy, in his “Nonconformists’ Memorial,” mentions to his honour, that when the Plague prevailed at Oswestry, he still continued with his people, extending to them both temporal and spiritual aid. He died December 8th, 1675, and was succeeded by the Rev. James Owen, a distinguished minister, who bore part, as we have already mentioned, in a theological controversy which took place in the Oswestry Guildhall, in the year 1681, in the presence of Bishop Lloyd. He was appointed pastor at Sweeney in November, 1676, the duties of which office he faithfully discharged, as well as those of chaplain to Mrs. Baker, a pious lady residing on her own estate at Sweeney Hall. Vestiges of the ancient burial-ground of the first Nonconformists are yet to be seen near the site of the old mansion at Sweeney, enclosed within iron railings by the late T. N. Parker, Esq. The following inscriptions are still legible:—
“Here lieth Mrs. Abigail Chetwood, daughter to Sir Richard Chetwood, who died the 1st May, 1658.”
“Thomas Baker, Esq., deceased March 19, aged 68, A.D. 1675.”
The above Thomas Baker served the office of High Sheriff of the county, in 1649, the first year of Cromwell’s Protectorate; and in the parliament of 1653 he was summoned by Cromwell, with John Brown, of Little Ness, as a knight of the shire. In 1692 the place of worship was removed, for convenience, from Sweeney into the town of Oswestry. The room fitted up for religious worship was part of a house in Willow-Street, now known as the Butchers’ Arms. Here Mr. Owen laboured for eight years, and then removed to Shrewsbury, where he was soon placed at the head of the dissenting theological seminary. He was succeeded by the Rev. Jenkyn Evans, who died in 1709, and his funeral sermon was preached by the celebrated Mathew Henry. The Rev. Joseph Venables was the next minister appointed; and after Mr. Venables came the Rev. Thomas Morgan. During his ministry the site on which the present chapel and chapel-house stand was purchased, with an old maltkiln upon it, for £38. The sum of £200 having been given for the purpose by Mrs. Sarah Lloyd, a chapel was erected, and opened for public worship in July, 1750. The immediate successors of Mr. Morgan were Mr. Davies and Mr. Dewhurst; the latter became Socinian or Arian in his doctrines, and soon left. In September, 1777, the Rev. Dr. Edward Williams removed from Ross to Oswestry. In 1783 he enlarged the chapel; and the Collegiate Institution at Abergavenny having been removed to Oswestry, Dr. Williams became its Tutor, and for the accommodation of the students he enlarged the chapel-house also. In 1791 he removed to Carr’s-Lane, Birmingham; afterwards to Rotherham College, of which he was appointed Principal, and there he died. The Rev. John Whitridge, who had been minister of the Congregational Church at Newcastle-under-Lyme for nine years, succeeded Dr. Williams, and he remained the kind and benevolent pastor of his congregation, which greatly increased under his ministry, till the period of his death, October 11th, 1826. On the west side of the chapel, and over the spot where the pulpit then stood, in which for thirty-five years he had dealt out the bread of life to his congregation, a plain marble tablet was erected, bearing the following inscription:—
“In Memory of the Rev. John Whitridge, this Tablet is affectionately inscribed by the Church over whom for 35 years he was the devoted Pastor. An example—in word—in conversation—in charity—in spirit—in faith—in purity. ‘Whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches.’ He was born 23rd March, 1760. Died 11th October, 1826. His body reposes in a tomb beneath, waiting the spirit’s union at the resurrection of the just.”
Dr. Jenkyn, of Wem, succeeded to the pastoral office, and afterwards the Rev. W. Reeve. The Rev. J. Davies was followed by the present able pastor, the Rev. James Matheson (son of the Rev. Dr. Matheson, the indefatigable Secretary of the Home Missionary Society), who entered upon his ministerial labours in September, 1851, and who, by his distinguished talents, great urbanity, and ardent zeal for the spiritual prosperity of his people, has succeeded in greatly increasing the number of his hearers, and in commending himself to the good opinion of all classes of his fellow-townsmen.
The present Chapel (of which we give a sketch) was built during the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Jenkyn. The old Chapel having become too small for the increased number of hearers, it was pulled down, with the exception of part of one wall, and the present one was erected. It is a substantial and commodious place of worship, and capable of containing, when closely seated, about eight hundred persons.
THE BAPTIST CHAPEL,
Situated on the English Walls (opposite the Cattle Market), was erected by voluntary contributions, in the year 1805, and enlarged in 1818. It contains two galleries, and will accommodate between 300 and 400 persons. The Baptist Church in Oswestry was formed September 6th, 1806, and then consisted of a few members dismissed from the Baptist Church, at Shrewsbury, at that time under the pastoral care of the late Rev. John Palmer, who, with other Baptist Ministers, preached the Gospel in Oswestry and its neighbourhood some time prior to the erection of the Chapel. The Rev. William Pain was the first Pastor, and was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Cooke, in the year 1817, who, for twenty years, honourably sustained the office to which he had been chosen. In 1838 the Rev. Robert Clarke (late of Bridgnorth) became the Pastor; and his successor was the late Rev. H. G. Grainger, who settled in Oswestry, in the year 1846. The present Pastor, the Rev. David Crumpton, took the oversight of the Church in the year 1852. There is a Sabbath-School connected with this congregation. The Chapel is free from debt, as is also the Baptist Chapel at Sweeney, erected by this Church and congregation in the year 1831.