Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House

All Welcome

We are a warm inclusive community of spiritual seekers, we value open-mindedness, free enquiry and a liberal religious spirit. The congregation is spiritually broad, and our worship draws upon many religious and non-religious sources. All our services offer a space of open-minded enquiry to encounter with the sacred in your life.

Our Services

Everyone is welcome to join us for a service, starting at 10.45 each Sunday. Because many people have joined us for services via Zoom from all corners of the world for the last year, we will be offering a live link via Zoom to the services as they happen.

To receive that link, please contact our Secretary Tessa Forsdike on tessa@tessajordan.co.uk or on 07980 641620.

European Heritage Story

The Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House is part of the European Heritage Story, a tangible site that holds physical evidences of links to Unitarian movements throughout Europe, such as our yearly flower communion services in the tradition of the Czech dissident preacher Norbert Capek.

One of our core Unitarian principles is that we are all equal and do not discriminate on any basis. This stance informs all our actions. We support the Black Lives Matter movement as an extension of our core beliefs.

We hope you find the information you need on this website, and food-for-thought through our Exploring Pages. If there is anything else you would like to know please contact our Secretary.

Books on Unitarianism, its history and cultural connections, as well as prayers and reflections for developing your faith – including texts authored by our former Reverend Cliff Reed – are available from Lindsey Press.

We are open to visitors on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 12 noon to 16.00 – through to the end of September – and often on Tuesdays we have a pianist playing to entertain visitors.

//All are welcome to visit and have a look around//

Celebrating 325 Years of Dissent: the Unitarian Meeting House in Ipswich

This historic event celebrating 325 years of the Ipswich Meeting House took place on Friday 17th May 2024 and featured two lectures, ‘We are now in the Tabernacle of Meeting: the Origins and Founders of the Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House’ by Minister Emeritus Rev Cliff Reed and ‘A Comet in the System: Joseph Priestley and the Emergence of Rational Dissent in the Eighteenth Century’ by Dr Elizabeth Kingston Harrison.

You can read Minister Emeritus Rev Cliff Reed’s paper above and watch the recorded event below:

Friends

There is a Friends Group for the Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House and would love you to become a member. It is for people who are interested in the building, its history and its future.

Friends have early access to news about the building and events, special invitations to visits and talks about its history and the satisfaction of knowing they are supporting an important historical architectural gem.

Group visits to our Meeting House

We are able to arrange special visits for groups interested in a tour of the building and a talk, which can be angled to suit the particular interest of your group (history of the building; history of Unitarianism; architectural features; restoration challenges and more). For these visits we invite a donation from visitors, which will cover a fee to our speaker.

We can also offer refreshments (tea/coffee and cake) by arrangement. We would need to ask for a fee of £10 per person for the visit and refreshments and ask for confirmed numbers a minimum of two days beforehand.

To discuss options or to arrange a date for your group to visit, please contact our Secretary Tessa Forsdike on 01473 728498 or tessa@tessajordan.co.uk

Celebrations Film