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1734, and continued until 1820. On the abolition of the
market, part of the ground was secured by Mr. Thomas
Wilson, of Highbury, for the erection of a chapel thereon.
The building was designed by Mr. Abraham, and erected by
Mr. Finden, at a cost of more than £12,000. The chapel
was opened for Divine Worship on the 11th December, 1822,
but it was not until the 16th May, 1831, that the first pastor
of the church, the Rev. John Leifchild, of Bristol, was
appointed. Up to that time the pulpit had been occupied by
various ministers of eminence from all parts of the country.
Roman Catholic Chapel, Warwick Street.—Beyond
the fact of the [building being wrecked in the Gordon Riots
of 1780, no particulars of general interest are known concerning
this place of worship.
Swallow Street Chapel.—At one time the congregation
attending this chapel was connected with the National
(Presbyterian) Church of Scotland. Early in this century
large and fashionable congregations were attracted by the
excellence of the choir, but probably owing to the migration
of the wealthier residents of London to the suburbs, the
congregation subsequently declined, and the chapel was closed
about the year 1880. The building afterwards became the
headquarters of the West London (4th Middlesex) Rifle
Volunteers, but it has recently been once more opened as a
place of worship under the title of the Theistic Church, the
Rev. Charles Voysey being the minister.
The Welsh Wesleyan Chapel, Portland Street,
is the only other Nonconformist place of worship in the
Parish, but no particulars of general interest have come to
hand concerning it.
Spanish Embassy Chapel.—The Roman Catholic Chapel
attached to the Spanish Embassy was situate in York Street,