George Gilbert, known as the "Apostle of Sussex", was an itinerant preacher of the mid- to late 18th century, known for his "strong character" and fervent Calvinistic views. He travelled regularly around the eastern half of Sussex preaching, and directly or indirectly founded about 40 churches along Calvinistic lines. One was in Battle, where
William Vidler, born in 1758 to an
Anglican family, came under his influence. He joined the newly formed independent Calvinistic cause and soon began preaching there. Vidler became a
Particular Baptist in 1780, reconstituted the church along those theological lines and became increasingly popular as a preacher. He then underwent a further shift in his religious views in the early 1790s when he began to profess
Universalist beliefs, which caused the church to split. This continued when he met the American theologian
Elhanan Winchester, whose treatise
Dialogues on Universal Restoration had caused Vidler to doubt his Calvinist convictions. From the mid-1790s he began to "ardently [promote] both Universalist and
Unitarian views", and founded several Unitarian causes. One was in the village of Northiam, north of Battle, where a congregation which had begun to meet in a wooden chapel came under Vidler's influence and "adopted his religious outlook". The chapel had been registered in 1795 for
General Baptists, The original wooden chapel collapsed in 1810 during work to raise the building, and a new brick chapel was erected on its site. The chapel was one of several Unitarian causes in the area, and in 1855 an anniversary tea was held there for the local Unitarian Christian District Association, when members of the Battle and
Tenterden Unitarian chapels gathered. After the death of Edwards, the chapel closed for a time until the Kent and Sussex Unitarian Association supplied a new minister to serve both Battle and Northiam. There was then another period of closure, during which time the building became dilapidated, but in 1879 £130 was spent to install new flooring, pews, windows and a pulpit, and it reopened in June of that year, now served from
Hastings Unitarian Church (which had opened in 1868). The chapel was still described as "Unitarian Baptist" at this time. This defines it as a "nationally important" building of "special interest". As of February 2001, it was one of 1,991 Grade II listed buildings, and 2,106 listed buildings of all grades, in the district of Rother. The chapel was still in religious use in 2004, but had closed and had been converted into a house by 2013. The small burial ground at the side survives. and was receiving ashes burials until at least the 1980s. ==Architecture==