The Ancient Chapel Of Toxteth

It’s frightening how old this place is. It’s not ‘ancient’ in the same way Pythagoras was but it’s still damn old, one of Liverpool’s half dozen oldest buildings.
Built sometime between 1604 and 1618, the original chapel (now modified) has always been associated with non-​conformist religion. Its first master, Richard Mather, was only fifteen when a group of Toxteth Puritans (not a gang name) appointed him. Following a stint at Oxford he returned to the chapel and lasted right through to the early 1630’s, when he was suspended for his non-​conformist views. He emigrated to America in 1635.
1635! America was just a bunch of tiny villages back then. The country still had a damn century to wait until George Washington was even born.
Although constructed in the countryside, the chapel was later swallowed up by the neighbourhoods of Liverpool and now sits at the end of Park Road, next to a cemetery of unquestionably old gravestones. I reckon it’ll outlive the Himalayas.