A late-eighteenth-century brick built chapel… (1)
Documentary evidence dates the earliest phase of the present chapel to approximately the last decade of the 18th century, and indicates that it replaced a previous meeting house, which may in turn have replaced a barn in which Dissenting religious services were originally held. Alterations were made to the chapel throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, including an extension used as a schoolroom and a major internal refurbishment. Moorgreen Chapel is a good example of a relatively early Non-Conformist meeting house, retaining its typically un-pretentious exterior and elements of its original interior throughout the sequence of altera-tions. Ownership of the chapel was transferred from Earl Cowper to the Congregationalists in 1899, and a great many documents relating to this event survive. Negotiations began in 1897; However, [a] Mr. Garratt replied that the Earl ‘could not accede to the request…he should prefer that the trustees should continue to hold the property on the same terms they now have it’ but on 6th September 1898, a meeting took place; the Congregationalists again asked for the freehold of the chapel, and this time the Earl agreed. (2)

<1> English Heritage, Listed Buildings Online (Unknown). SNT2439.

<2> Pre-Construct Archaeology, 2009, Building Survey Report United Reform Chapel Moorgreen (Unpublished document). SNT5240.