Unitarian Chapel

Outside the Unitarian Chapel, with Chris Goacher, minister and Jackie Woodward, Secretary.

Closer view of the poem.

This site was chosen because Beth was a friend of the chapel and its members, and the congregation asked for inclusion in the poetry trail. The chosen poem is 'To Nature' by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834), a Unitarian for much of his life who considered entering the Ministry. Coleridge was a friend of Josiah Wedgewood, Charles Lamb, and the three Strutt brothers of the cotton mills in Belper and Derby. One of the major figures of English Romanticism, Samuel Taylor Coleridge created works of remarkable diversity and imaginative genius. The period of his creative friendship with William Wordsworth inspired some of Coleridge's best-known poems, from the nightmarish vision of the 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and the opium-inspired 'Kubla Khan' to the sombre passion of 'Dejection'.

			To Nature
			
               	It may indeed be phantasy, 
		  when I 
               	Essay to draw from all created 
		  things 
               	Deep, heartfelt, inward joy 
		  that closely clings ; 
               	And trace in leaves and 
		  flowers that round me lie 
               	Lessons of love and earnest 
		  piety. 
               	So let it be ; and if the wide 
		  world rings 
               	In mock of this belief, it brings 
               	Nor fear, nor grief, nor vain 
		  perplexity. 
               	So will I build my altar in the 
		  fields, 
               	And the blue sky my fretted 
		  dome shall be, 
               	And the sweet fragrance that 
		  the wild flower yields 
               	Shall be the incense I will 
		  yield to Thee, 
               	Thee only God ! and thou 
		  shalt not despise 
               	Even me, the priest of this 
		  poor sacrifice.

Belper Unitarian chapel
Belper Unitarian chapel was built in 1788 by local mill owner, Jedediah Strutt, and enlarged with side wings in about 1800. The interior has steeply tiered box pews rising towards each side and there is a small rear gallery with access only from an exterior cantilevered stone staircase. Among the family monuments is one to Jedediah Strutt, 1797, "Founder of this Chapel". There is also a late 18th century octagonal pulpit. Entered from outside is a "catacomb" in which are interred several members of the Strutt family. It is a grade ll*listed building.

This plaque has been supported by a grant from the Herbert Strutt charity.

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