In the eighteenth century, Thaxted became a centre for non-conformity when an independent meeting house was established. This became a Congregationalist Chapel at which the minister was John Fell. The United Reformed Church, in Bolford Street, was built in 1876 on the site of the earlier Congregationalist chapel. The Baptist Church, in Park Street, occupies a Georgian building dating from 1832. There was once also a Quaker meeting house at Mill End: the building was later incorporated into the sweet factory and still exists. The Exclusive Brethren established a meeting house in the Tanyard in the 1940s.