Heritage Open Days | Maidstone Unitarian Church

About

This Grade II Listed Building dates from 1736 and was originally a meeting house for dissenting Presbyterians who had split from the established church in 1662. The Rev. William Hazlitt, the essayist's father and a remarkable thinker and campaigner in his own right, was minister between 1770 and 1780.

 

Graham Hague, in “The Unitarian Heritage: An Architectural Survey”, summarises the structure as “brick; square, with pyramidal slate roof and corner pilasters”. The interior, which he describes as “Gothicised but retaining original layout”—including a three-sided gallery and imposing tall pulpit—was decorated in the 1990s in colours appropriate to the period. The beams and joints of the main worship space ceiling are exposed to view.

 

The building was enlarged in the 19th century and again in 1921 when a pair of handsome stained glass windows depicting “Courage” and “Victory” were installed as a memorial to members of the congregation who fell in the Great War. Brief biographies of these men are displayed in the church.

 

Location tip: We are opposite the colonnade, between Regain Hearing and Royal Star Arcade 

 

Wheelchair access in the form of a ramp into the building is available, but the toilets are not wheelchair accessible owing to the layout of the building.