There is evidence that congregations were beginning to wane as the 18th century drew to its close. Spershott himself, in his later years looked back on his younger years when “there were a great many sober religious persons in the city and the churches and dissenters’ meeting houses were abundantly better filled on the Lord’s Day than they are nowadays” and complained that “the several denominations were too apt to look with a disrespectful eye on each other and stigmatize one another with characters of reproach as high church, and low church, Whigs and Tories, Jacobites, etc.”¹⁸

On February 6th, 1797 there was another fire. The ‘Vestry Room’ in the Eastgate Meeting house was discovered to be on fire by Ann Hodgson, the woman who had the care of the place. The flames broke out about 10 o’clock in the morning, “Occasioned by a piece of timber going across the fire place to support the chimney” but by timely assistance it was put out with little damage. ¹⁹

Towards the close of the 18th century a minister named John Foster officiated here. He lived from 1770 to 1843 and came to Chichester from Hebden Bridge where he had been influenced by John Fawcett, writer of the hymn still well-known in Baptist Churches here and in America, ‘Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love’. He entered Bristol Baptist College (established in 1679) in 1791, having already studied in Yorkshire, and when he left he preached for periods at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and in Dublin, and early in 1797, he was invited to be pastor at Chichester, where he remained until midsummer 1799. The nursery rhyme, “Dr. Foster went to Gloucester” is sometimes linked with this John Foster. It could be correct, as from 1808 to 1817, he lived at Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire.²⁰

Foster “appears to have been a singularly ineffective minister wherever he went, but he achieved some fame with essays and there is a notice about him in the Directory of National Biography.” Some of his letters have interesting references to Chichester.²¹

Although it is not specifically stated, the fact that John Foster was trained at Bristol Baptist College makes it almost certain that he was trinitarian and not unitarian.

The Challen Transcripts²² refer to the records of Eastgate including ‘certain baptisms 1729/1800’; this is evidence that believers’ baptism was still being practised at the end of the 18th century, and there is no reference between the ‘influence of Caffin’ in the early 17th century and the late 18th century relating to the doctrinal position of the Eastgate Church. A brief but significant note in the Manuscript dated 3rd December, 1883²³ already referred to, says “About that time (end of 18th century) a party of the New Connexion of General Baptists from Portsmouth came and took possession of the Chapel, but were ejected. The chapel at that time was without a minister. The Minister must be a Baptist.”

The New Connexion was founded by Dan Taylor, a stonemason who had been converted by John Wesley and was baptised in 1763. He was concerned about the decline of General Baptist Churches and particularly the movement towards unitarianism, so the attempt of the Portsmouth group of New Connexion General Baptists to ‘take possession’ of the very weak Eastgate community can be well understood.

According to Dr. Whitley²⁴ there were about 147 General Baptist churches in England in 1719. About a dozen of them became ‘unitarian’ (e.g. Bessels’s Green in Kent, Portsmouth (St. Thomas’s Street), Dover, Horsham and Chichester (Eastgate). It seems that in that century it was possible for a church to change its doctrinal position without any amendment to the Trust Deed or to the name of the Chapel.

Frank Buffard²⁵ says, “At this period the Sussex (General Baptist) churches ... apparently had no Association of their own, but were content with their membership of the London Assemblies. There were seven of these Sussex churches. ... It is not usually possible to state the date when any particular church became Unitarian, for the conversion was gradual ... The Chichester Church moved steadily towards Unitarianism, but its membership dwindled.”

¹⁸The Memoirs of James Spershott Ibid Pages 14 and 15
¹⁹Challen’s Transcripts: Manuscript of 1883 Ibid
²⁰Letter C. Sidney Hall, Secretary, Bristol Baptist College, 19th October, 1978
²¹C. Sidney Hall, Ibid Gives the following further information about John Foster and his connections with Chichester: “Dr. John Ryland President of Bristol Baptist College from 1794 to 1825 wrote ‘The Life and Correspondence of John Foster’ (2 volumes), published in 1846 by Jackson and Walford ... Some of the letters in Ryland’s book were addressed to a Mrs. Mant, who had been his (Foster’s) landlady in Chichester ... Foster frequently took three services a Sunday, but the congregation was small and indifferent, and not long after he left the cause died out. The author says “a walk in the vicinity of the town is still known by his name.” Foster says Chichester is a very elegant and fashionable place, where he has to dress well, but he sees little of ‘company’. He is a republican in thought. He says his opinions are in substance ‘Calvinist’ and he was out of step with General Baptists. In one of Foster’s letters written to Mrs. Mant a month after he had left Chichester he asks ”Is Watery Lane the same? I wonder whether she lived there. She lived in “a little quiet house.” Ken Newberry (The River Lavant, 1987) says that one part of the Lavant ran from Eastgate Square to the present Caledonian Road/Stirling Road corner and “then southwards to lead to Kingsham Farm” near Kingsham Manor, an ornamental stone arch of which survives in the grounds of the Boys’ High School. He adds: “The prevalence of water in this area is reflected in the name Watery Lane almost opposite the Kingsham Farm site, and the continuous flow of water into the east side of the canal from under the High School playing field.” Part of Watery Lane survives on the south side of Chichester bypass, opposite Kingsham County Primary School.
²²Challen’s Transcriptions Vol. 48 Ibid
²³Ibid Manuscript of 1883
²⁴Dr. Whitley. Quoted in the Unitarian Historical Society’s letter of 23rd July, 1952.
²⁵Frank Buffard Kent and Sussex Baptist Associations 1963 Pages 64 and 65