History
It was consecrated as a Church of Scotland place of worship in 1827
It was specially built for Edward Irving, the popular minister of the Caledonian chapel in Cross Street, Hatton Garden, which became too small when Irving increased the small congregation to about 2000 after arriving in London to take up his ministry in December 1821
It was the first commission for architect Sir William Tite; its Decorated Gothic style was partly modelled on York Minster (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for Sir William Tite)
At its opening on 11 May 1827, with seating for 1700, it was filled to overflowing (The Times, 12 May 1827)
Irving’s preaching was controversial, being millenarian and charismatic
From 1830 to 1832 members of the congregation began to ‘speak in tongues’, with Irving’s uneasy permission
The Times warned “sensible people who frequent the Caledonian Chapel – lately converted into a miracle shop – that these follies are contagious” (The Times, 29 October 1831)
In May 1832 Irving was expelled by his superiors for preaching the sinfulness of Christ
He left the church, taking a large proportion of his congregation with him
At first he took rooms in the Royal London Bazaar off nearby Gray’s Inn Road, then at the end of 1832 settled in a hall in Newman Street, west of Tottenham Court Road
The church in Regent Square continued as a Scottish Presbyterian church until 1843, when it became English Presbyterian after some of its congregation left to form the Free Church of Scotland with Thomas Chalmers (Survey of London, vol. 24, 1952; Barbara Waddington, The Regent Square United Reformed Church (Lumen) in the Twentieth Century)
The building was bombed in 1945 and became unsafe; finally, in 1960, it was demolished and replaced by a modern building which continues to house the Presbyterian congregation
|
What was reforming about it?
It was built for controversial preacher Edward Irving and quickly became equally controversial
Where in Bloomsbury
It was located in the south-west corner of Regent Square
Website of current institution
The Church has its own website at (opens in new window)
Its parent institution is the United Reformed Church at (opens in new window)
|
>
Books about it
John Hair, Regent Square: Eighty Years of a London Congregation (1899)
Barbara Waddington, The Regent Square United Reformed Church (Lumen) in the Twentieth Century, online at (opens in new window)
Archives
Its archives are held on site in Regent Square
|