claims priority of notice, as being the first dissenting place of worship in Chester. The following succinct sketch of the history of this building is taken from Pigott’s ‘History of Chester:’— “The Unitarian chapel is a large brick building, with a burial ground in front, situated between Crook-lane and Trinity-lane, having an entrance from each of those streets, and is generally called Crook’s-lane Chapel. It was built in 1700 by a large, flourishing, respectable society, which had been formed in 1687 by the celebrated Matthew Henry, son of the learned, pious, and laborious Philip Henry, one of the ejected ministers. In the register book belonging to the congregation of this place there is a short account of the rise, progress, and transactions of the society, written by Mr. Henry in 1710, being the twenty-third year of his ministry. From this account, it appears that in 1682 there were three dissenting congregations in Chester, which had been founded by Mr. William Cook, Mr. Ralph Hall, and Mr. John Harvey, ministers of the Established Church, who had been ejected from their respective livings on account of their non-compliance with the Act of Uniformity. After the death of Mr. Cook and Mr. Hall, their congregations were entirely broken up and dispersed by the persecutions of the times; but such of them as continued dissenters occasionally held meetings at each other’s houses, or joined Mr. Harvey’s congregation, which assembled at his house in a private manner, in order to avoid the penalties which were then in force against the Nonconformists. James the Second, under the pretence of universal toleration, but with a view to the establishment of popery, granted them the liberty of public worship, of which they had been deprived in the latter part of the reign of Charles the Second. It was at this time that Mr. Henry, who began his ministry in Chester, collected the remains of the congregation of Mr. Cook and Mr. Hall, and opened a meeting in White Friars’-lane. Mr. Harvey, who had been ejected from Wallasey, in Cheshire, continued to preside over a dissenting congregation in Bridge-street for thirteen years after toleration was granted; he died November, 1699; he was succeeded by his son, who resigned in 1706, on account of ill-health. His congregation, which was large and opulent, was united to that of Mr. Henry, and in 1707 a large gallery was built on the south side of Crook’s-lane meeting-house for their better accommodation. Thus the three original nonconformist societies were united in one, under the pastoral care of Mr. Henry, who was then the only dissenting minister in Chester.”