Devizes – a hotbed of dissent
Devizes was known as a “hotbed for dissenters,” with non-conformists making up a significant minority of the town’s voters. Presbyterians, Independents (Congregationalists), and Baptists built significant chapels throughout the 18th century, with further splits leading to more churches, like Salem Chapel in New Park Street.
The restoration of the monarchy in 1660 limited the freedom of those wishing to worship outside the established church. Within five years, a series of Parliamentary Acts exposed these dissenters, as they were known, to dangers and deprivations. They were banned from holding public office, dissenting clergy lost their livings and Quakers were criminalized. Meetings for worship outside the Church of England were made illegal and dissenting ministers were unable to preach within five miles of their last parish.
The degree of risk for dissenters to hold meetings can be measured by the fines for those found at illegal meetings, equivalent today to around £650 for a first offence, £1,300 for a second and £13,000 or deportation for a third. However this persecution was of no avail in stopping the dissenter movement and, in 1672, the King took the unusual step of issuing a Declaration of Indulgence which allowed non-conformists to hold meetings provided the minister was licensed. This was confirmed and expanded later by Parliament in the Toleration Act of 1689.
Devizes was a hot bed for dissenters. The Baptists were meeting in 1646 and the Quakers a year later. Avebury Congregational Chapel was built in 1670 in response to the Five Mile Act, this being a central point for dissenters from Marlborough, Calne, Pewsey and Devizes.
The dissenters were quick to recognize the importance of having a political base from which they could fight any renewed persecution and Devizes led the way by sending a Baptist to Parliament in 1679 and another in 1706. By 1715, 20% of the electorate of Devizes were dissenters: only one other English borough, Tiverton, achieved this high level.