The meeting house was founded in its present site in 1662 by the Revd Francis Tallents and the Revd John Bryan, two dissenters ejected from St Mary's Church and St Chad's Church respectively.

In 1798, Samuel Coleridge[2] accepted the position of minister at the church, (salary £120 a year) and the effect of his first sermon is recorded by the 19-year-old William Hazlitt from Wem.

Coleridge's stay in Shrewsbury was just over two weeks before being offered £150 a year from Thomas Wedgwood to give up his position and study poetry and philosophy.

The whole building was rebuilt on its present site in 1839-40 by local architect, John Carline, Jnr[3] with money provided by George the First's government.

[citation needed] The town plan of 1882 shows it had a small courtyard, which was removed when the High Street was widened, and that it seated 350 people.