Histories

A chapel for Particular Baptists was built in 1741 and opened in 1742 in what became known as Chapel Lane. It was paid for by Isaac Wyke, a surgeon, who told neighbours he was building a 'house to cure mad people'; he may have constructed a baptism pool just over the Benthall boundary, perhaps representing it as a medicinal cold bath. By 1749 there were about fifteen members and their meeting became a church. At times in the 1770s there were over 150 worshippers. About 1801, following a dispute between the members, the Birch Meadow chapel was opened. The original membership, or Old Baptists, declined in numbers during the 19th century, from 66 in 1803, to 39 in 1827, and 17 in 1878. (fn. 41) Worshippers on the morning of Census Sunday 1851 included 96 adults. (fn. 42) The brick chapel, extended to the west in the mid 19th century, seated 300. Attached on the south were a schoolroom and manse, both of about the same date as the original chapel.
[From: 'Broseley', A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 10: Munslow Hundred (part), The Liberty and Borough of Wenlock (1998), pp. 257-93. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22876.]