LYME REGIS CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Minutes, correspondence insurance policies, supplies, sale of church.

The Church was formed following the ejection of the Anglican minister, the Revd A Short, in 1662. In 1672 he was granted a licence to hold meetings at his house then in the same year a meeting house was built in George's Court. In 1734 the Revd J Whitty became the new minister and under his guidance a new chapel was built in Coombe Street in 1755. There was a split in the church in the 1770s with some following the Unitarian doctrine. There appears to have been further divisions in the early 1820s with some church members joining the Baptist church. By the end of the 1830s many feared that the congregation would fail completely but with the appointment of the Revd G Jones in 1839 the attendance rose. However, by the 1850s attendance had again dwindled and the chapel was closed between October 1857 and July 1858. In 1865 Lyme and Charmouth became united under one minister. The congregation continued to be small throughout its remaining history and eventually closed in October 1985