Cairo Street Chapel
4 Cairo Street, Warrington, Cheshire, WA1 1ED
The earliest dissenting chapel in Warrington, part of the 1662 ejection. Monuments to pupils of Warrington Academy and prominent families of the chapel including the Gaskells, Aitkins and Monks. Displays featuring the lives of Joseph Priestley who was ordained a Minister in the chapel. Anna Letitia Barbauld, 18th century poet and novelist, Rev Pearsall Phillip Carpenter agitator for social reform and getting a clean water supply for the town. Lectern in memory of John Howard, Prison Reformer who attended Cairo Street on his many visits to Warrington. The burial grounds contain many graves including the grave of William and Elizabeth Gaskell's son.
Prominent in the history of our Chapel are the Gaskell and Monks families. William Gaskell married Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson, and he became a renown Minister at Cross Street, Manchester for over 50 years; William’s brother Samuel humanised Lancaster lunatic asylum and became Commissioner for Lunacy for England and Wales; and Ann who, with her husband William Robson, founded and ran the Warrington Anti-Slavery Society, one of the most influential and active Societies in the UK.
Also of particular note is Frederick Monks, a lifelong Unitarian, an entrepreneur and industrialist who created Monks Hall and Company, which became one of the country’s leading manufacturers of iron and steel. He donated Warrington’s famous Golden Gates to the town in 1893, and was a Liberal Borough Councillor and Alderman in his later years.
4 Cairo Street, Warrington, Cheshire, WA1 1ED
There are several steps at the chapel entrance so wheelchair access is limited. Disabled parking is available in local streets
Visitors can take photographs. Booklets are available on the history of the Chapel and many of the notable persons associated with the Chapel at a small charge. Records of headstones in the burial ground and of interment of ashes are available for use.