Octagon Chapel, Liverpool

The dissenting group in Liverpool in the middle of the eighteenth century was in numerical terms shrinking. Many from congregations had conformed to the Church of England. A plan for a set liturgy, as a method of reform of dissenting services, was proposed by some Lancashire ministers in 1750. Despite open opposition by John Brekell from 1758, who by then had been ministering at the Kaye Street Chapel for nearly 30 years, the compilation of a new liturgy went ahead. The Kaye Street Chapel (also Key Street) dated from 1707, and belonged to the Warrington presbyterian classis. The Benn's Garden Chapel in Red Cross Street, Liverpool, dated from 1727 and had been built for the Presbyterian…

As the name suggests, the building had eight sides, like the Octagon Chapel, Norwich (1756, Thomas Ivory). The chapel was to a design by Joseph Finney, and was built in Temple Court. Nicholas Clayton, of Unitarian views, accepted an invitation to become the first minister there; the appointment was joint with Hezekiah Kirkpatrick. The congregation were nicknamed the Octagonians. but the chapel's existence depended very much on Bentley, who eventually moved to London. The experimental liturgy did not gain the anticipated support, from those in the founding congregations who did not want to use the Book of Common Prayer. The chapel was sold in 1776, to a clergyman, Rev. Plumbe, Rector of…

The liturgy of the Octagon Chapel became known as the Liverpool Liturgy. It was written by Philip Holland and Richard Godwin, and was published in 1763, as edited by John Seddon. Among the hymns chosen was one by Elizabeth Scott, later arranged by John Broderip. The Octagonian psalms, at least, became known to Thomas Jefferson. the liturgy proved controversial and even divisive. Seddon and Holland were founders of the nearby Warrington Academy: John Taylor, who was a tutor there, opposed the liturgy from before the time of its publication. Seddon and Taylor had in fact a profound disagreement on the suitability of the philosophy of Francis Hutcheson for the teaching at the academy; while…