Whether these Nonconformist ministers went so far as to form a Church here on Congregational principles, we are not informed; but their example and their services appear to have been the means of a regular congregation being gathered in these early days of Nonconformity; and probably the spirit of persecution might not now discover itself so much here as in some other parts of the country, which might be one reason why several of those who were cast out of the Church resorted to this place. That there was a stated congregation, and probably a Church formed, appears to be manifest by the next fact in relation to these things that we find recorded; which is, that Mr. Shepherd, who had been minister at Tillbrook, in Bedfordshire, on quitting his living a few years after the passing of the Act of Uniformity, became pastor to a Dissenting congregation at Oundle. This is the minister of whom it is stated, in our account of the Church at Kettering, "that he had the true spirit of his office, his preaching being very awful and affecting, and his life very holy." About 1697 he removed to Kettering, where, a few months after, he died. There is a tradition generally credited in Oundle, that the Meeting House was built immediately after the passing of "the Toleration Act," in 1790 or 1791. The founder was Joseph Hewson, a draper in the town, who erected the building on his own freehold, for the use of himself and other Nonconformists in the neighbourhood, who, as in other places, were but too happy to emerge from the state of depression into which they had been cast, to a state of comparative liberty: but in 1724, David Hewson, of Market Harborough, also a draper, son and heir of the founder, sold the property to the society for the nominal sum of L40; and in the month of August, the same year, the first trust deed was made, settling the building for ever as a place of religious worship, and conveying the fee of the freehold to twelve trustees. It was in the deed denominated a place for a Presbyterian congregation, but now the Church is formed on the principles of the Independents. After Mr. Shepherd's removal from Oundle, there appears to have been a Mr. Atkinson pastor of the Church, for on the sacramental cups is this inscription: "The Rev. Mr. Atkinson being our present pastor, 1713." The next pastor was Mr. Joseph King, who probably might be first assistant and afterwards successor to Mr. Atkinson, as there were three of Mr. King's children buried in Oundle Churchyard, the first in 1712, the other two in 1714. Mr. King died in 1720. A tombstone was erected to his memory in the Churchyard, on which is a Latin inscription. The following is a translation:-- JOSEPH KING died 29th Jany., A.D. 1719/20, aged 46.