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sold. The plot of ground adjoining the church on the north side was purchased as the site for the clergy-house, and adjoining it are the newly erected Catholic school-buildings, affording accommodation for about 120 scholars.

NONCONFORMIST CHAPELS.

ARGYLL CONGREGATIONAL CHAPEL.

The history of the Church and Congregation now worshipping in Argyll dates from 1782. Some little time previous to that date, a disagreement had occurred between the Countess of Huntingdon and the celebrated Rev. Rowland Hill, the minister of Surrey Chapel, London, which led to her ladyship issuing instructions that he and some other ministers, then known as Dissenters, should not be allowed to preach in any of her chapels. These instructions having been read in the Vineyards Chapel, Bath, where these ministers had often preached, led to a secession of a few of the members, who determined to establish another place of worship, where Mr. Hill and the other ministers who were included might officiate. The number who left the Vineyards Chapel was about 10, and the secession occurred in the year 1782, or about that period.

A workshop in the Upper Bristol Road, somewhere in Monmouth Place, was temporarily fitted up as a place of meeting for a few months while a small chapel was being erected for them in Morford Street, which was at that time being built. This was situated in the rear of No. 14, and was in subsequent years used as a workshop.

A young man named Holmes was sent from London, to be the minister of this small congregation, and his signature as minister appears to the application for the license of the new Chapel, "The Tabernacle," dated June 9th, 1783, the day previous to the opening of the place, on which occasion the Rev. Rowland Hill preached.

The chapel was not long occupied. The distance from the city and the strong opposition of the Vineyards Chapel were elements for the time too powerful to contend against, and two years after the chapel was bought by the Vineyards managers, who thought by this means to put an end to the secession; but a little before this, Mr. George Welch, a banker of London (ancestor of the Kemp-Welch family, well known in nonconformist circles), who frequently visited Bath, had become interested in the new cause, and suggested that its success would be promoted by the selection of a central position in the city. At that time the Roman Catholic Chapel on the Lower Borough Walls was in ruins, having been burnt in the Gordon riots of 1780, and Mr. Welch proposed that it should be taken and restored, offering, if a suitable minister were provided, to support him for three years. This offer was accepted, and the chapel opened for worship May 1st, 1785. Subsequently to the closing of "The Tabernacle" in Morford Street, the congregation met in Hetling House, till. the new chapel was ready for occupation. Mr. Welch recom

mended the Rev. Thomas Tuppen, then of Portsea, as the Minister, and he came in 1785, and an Independent Church was formed, with him as the pastor, September 30th of that year.

Mr. Tuppen was so successful in increasing the congregation, that the chapel was soon found to be inadequate, and it was determined to build a larger place. About this time, the Bathwick estate was being laid out for building, and a site was taken in Argyll Buildings, as it was then called, on which a chapel was erected and called Argyll Chapel. This was

opened for service, October 4th, 1789, the Rev. William Jay, at that time minister of Lady Maxwell's Chapel (Hope Chapel), Clifton, preaching on the occasion, the minister, Mr. Tuppen, being laid aside by illness, and unable to do so, although present at the service, he never occupied the pulpit, and he died February 22nd, 1790, and was buried in the Baptist burial ground, at the bottom of Snow Hill. Mr. Jay was subsequently invited to the pastorate, which he accepted, and was ordained January 30th, 1791, and remained the minister 62 years.

The congregation greatly increased, and the Church prospered under his ministry, and several enlargements of the chapel had to be made from time to time to meet the necessities of the congregation which he gathered: In 1821, very extensive alterations and enlargements were made in the chapel from the designs and under the superintendence of the late Mr. H. E. Goodridge, architect. The chapel was lengthened at each end, and a new front elevation erected. In 1839, the jubilee of the chapel was celebrated, when the whole of the debt remaining upon it in connection with the various alterations from time to time effected, and also for the purchase of the burial ground in Snow Hill, was cleared off.

In 1841, the jubilee of the pastor was observed, on which occasion Mr. Jay was presented with £650, and other testimonials of regard and esteem, from the church and congregation, and from his numerous friends throughout the country. Two granite columns were also placed in the chapel, in memory of the previous minister of the church, the Rev. T. Tuppen, and the other to commemorate Mr. Jay's jubilee.

In 1848, the Rev. Robert Alfred Vaughan, B.A., son of Rev. Dr. Robert Vaughan, became assistant minister to Mr. Jay, and remained about two years, when he accepted the pastorate of Steelhouse Lane Chapel, Birmingham. In 1852, Mr. Jay resigned the pastorate at the expiration of his!

62nd year, January 30th, 1858, and he died December 27th of the same year.1

Rev. William Henry Dyer, of West Bromwich, succeeded Mr. Jay as pastor of Argyll Chapel, and remained 22 years. He resigned Christmas, 1874. He died September

17th, 1878.

Mr. Dyer was succeeded by the Rev. Henry Tarrant, of Leeds, as the pastor.

His ministry dates from 1875 to 1885, when he resigned on account of ill health, and subsequently removed to Derby, and became the pastor of London-road Congregational Church. Rev. Thomas Stephens, B.A. (Camb.), is now the minister of the chapel.

THE COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON'S CONNEXION.

The Countess of Huntingdon erected a chapel on the Vineyards, and it was opened on the 6th October, 1765, by George Whitfield. In 1783 a gallery, supported, by fluted pillars, was erected, and the sittings by this addition were increased to 750, of which 150 are free and unappropriated. Adjoining the chapel is the residence of the chaplain, a free day school, and a committee room, in which are portraits of Lady Huntingdon, Rowland Hill, and George Whitfield. The Rev. J. Owen ministered in this place for 30 years, and a tablet is erected to his memory over the pulpit.

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WESLEYAN CHAPELS.

The Wesleyans have two large and commodious places of worship the older in New King Street, the foundation stone

1 Mr. Jay was an honour to the city in which he lived so many years. His eloquence and originality placed him amongst the first rank of preachers; whilst his moderation, candour, and firmness owards those who differed with him in opinion, entitled him to the ighest respect and consideration.

of the original Chapel being, it is said, laid by Wesley in 1777. It was rebuilt in 1847 and further improved in 1865 by Mr. Wilson, architect. The building will accommodate over 1,000 persons. The other Chapel is at Walcot, and was opened in May, 1816. The building, which has a classic portico of the Doric order, is commodious, measuring 71ft. in length by 52ft. in width, exclusive of a large recess behind the pulpit.

PRIMITIVE METHODIST.

This connection has two Chapels. That on Westgate Buildings was erected in 1866, on the site of an older Chapel. Claremont Chapel is a handsome building, designed by Mr. Hicks. The Chapel was opened in May, 1882. It has a school adjoining.

UNITED METHODIST FREE CHURCH.

Hope Chapel, on the Lower Borough Walls, occupies the site of the Roman Catholic Chapel destroyed in the "No Popery" riots. It was afterwards occupied by the Congregationalists, and for many years by the Society of Friends. It was re-opened, after a considerable outlay, in 1866 by the present congregation.

THE BAPTISTS.

The building

Manvers Street Chapel was opened in 1872. was designed by Messrs. Wilson and Willcox, and was built by Mr. Bladwell. It is in the Early English style; the north corner turret is 75 ft. high. The nave is surrounded on three sides by a gallery and the chancel, above which is a stained glass wheel window. The arches of the clerestory are built of blue and gray stone in alternate courses, and are supported by iron columns. The open roof and the seats are of varnished pitch pine. Instead of the usual

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