[2] This trend was seen throughout Sussex, and by the late 17th century "the all-embracing medieval Church" existed alongside dozens of newly established groups and denominations.

[3] Along with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and the Presbyterians, they found significant early success in the area around the north Sussex market town of Horsham.

They chose a grassy, raised site set back from the west side of the High Street,[7] and erected a modest cottage-like chapel in 1754.

[10][16] William Evershed also had a house in Godalming, Surrey, at which conventicles attended by hundreds of people every week took place from the mid-18th century.

In 1783 the congregation decided to build a meeting house, and a General Baptist chapel (which soon became Unitarian) was erected on Meadrow six years later.

[9][16] The wide façade of three bays has been described as similar to the former Southover General Baptist Chapel (now in residential use)[20] in Lewes, East Sussex.

[7] It is a good example of the contrast between the prominently sited, "wealthy established parish church with its centuries of tradition" and "the small impoverished Dissenting chapel", which occurs frequently in Sussex towns and villages.

[15] Other interior fittings include an "impressive"[23] clock manufactured in 1756 by Inkpen of Horsham,[8][9] two coffin stools—on which a coffin would be placed before it was lowered into the grave—dating from 1787 and inscribed ik 87 (James Knight, 1787),[15][24] original pews including two carved with James Knight 1788,[15] a brass chandelier with a dove figure, and an original communion table of oak.

[11] The original approach from the east, along a small uneven path in a narrow gap between surrounding buildings (which almost hide the chapel from view from the High Street), survives.

[11][19] The chapel was described in these terms by a 19th-century writer:[note 2][25] A delightful plain rural chapel, with the men and women sitting on different sides, the deacons crouching around a table at [the] front of the pulpit, the singers in the gallery, the hymns introduced by the wail of a pitch pipe.Billingshurst Unitarian Chapel was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 22 September 1959;[16] this defines it as a "nationally important" building of "special interest[26] As of February 2001, there were 1,628 Grade II listed buildings, and 1,726 listed buildings of all grades, in the district of Horsham.