St Matthias Church, Hackney
Church building · London Borough of Hackney
Church building
Newington Green Unitarian Church is one of England's oldest Unitarian churches, located on Newington Green, north London. The site has maintained strong ties to progressive political and religious causes for over 300 years, and is London's oldest Nonconformist place of worship still in use. The church was founded in 1708 by English Dissenters, a community of which had been gathering around Newington Green for at least half a century before that date.
The church is operated by New Unity and is part of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. Its most famous minister was Dr Richard Price, a political radical who is remembered for his role in the Revolution Controversy, a British debate about the French Revolution, but who also did pioneering work in finance and statistics. The most famous member of its congregation was Mary Wollstonecraft, who drew inspiration from Price's sermons in her work, both in arguing for the new French republic and in raising the issue of the rights of women.
Wollstonecraft is commemorated by a mural in the church which has been described as "the birthplace of feminism". The building, which faces the north side of the green, was extended...