The Church has been once at any rate in danger, that is in 1800, when a great part of the building fell down. Hence arose a well-known local rhyme. Chelmsford Church, and Writtle steeple, Both fell down, but killed no people. Chelmsford seems early to have struggled after a Reformed Church. Strype tells us of one, William Maldon, who learned to read in order that he might study the Bible for himself, and there discovered how idolatrous it was to kneel to the crucifix, much to the anger of his father, who beat him till he was almost dead. A little later we hear of George Eagles, who, for preaching, was hanged, drawn and quartered at Chelmsford, in Queen Mary’s reign, and whose head was set up in the market-place on a long pole. Archbishop Laud found many victims in Essex. One was Thomas Hooker, Fellow of Emanuel College, Cambridge, and lecturer at Chelmsford, where by his preaching he wrought a great reformation, not only in the town but in all the country round. Happily for himself, Hooker escaped to America, where he died. When the Quakers appeared, they were sorely handled by those who ought to have known better; for instance, in July 1655, there was a day of general fasting, prayer, and public collection of money for the poor persecuted Protestants of Piedmont. John Parnell, the Quaker, embraced that opportunity for disturbing the people, and for this he was tried at Chelmsford, and sent to Colchester Castle where he died. One of the ejected ministers at Chelmsford, Mark Mott, is described as an able preacher. The congregational cause in Chelmsford, dates from the time of John Reeve, who took out a license for a Presbyterian Meeting-house, in 1692. Edward Rogers, an ejected minister, succeeded him. Before the year 1716, a meeting-house had been erected, and at that time a separation took place, which led to the erection of another meeting-house. In 1716, the pastor at the old meeting was Nathaniel Hickford. The congregation then consisted of seven hundred hearers, of whom twenty are described as having votes for the county, and eighteen as gentlemen. The first pastor at the new meeting was Richard, the father of the well-known Nathaniel Lardner. In 1763, the two churches united, but not long after they separated again. The new meeting, which is still in the London road, was for some time under the pastoral care of the Rev. George Wilkinson, but lately resigned, and his place is filled by the Rev. MacDougal Mundle, whose popularity argues well for the cause with which he is connected, and the church over which he presides.