The Old Meeting House Unitarian Chapel, Mansfield, is hosting Heritage Open Days on Saturday 14th and Sunday, 15th September, from 10am to 4pm.

The programme will feature talks, exhibitions, a quiz, self-guided tour, children’s corner, and refreshments.

This year’s topic, Routes-Networks-Connections, offers a chance to find out more about the history of the chapel, Mansfield, and how the community has been shaped by people who settled in the town.

Featured on the Heritage Open Days 30-Year Anniversary Gallery, the chapel was built in 1702 and is the oldest non-conformist place of worship still in existence in Nottinghamshire.

It has a Victorian interior, featuring spectacular stained glass windows, three by the William Morris Co, as well as memorials to noteworthy people like William Hollins and John Harrop-White.

Visitors to the open days can hear about the groups of people who followed different routes to settle in Mansfield, including the dissenting clergy ejected from their ministries in the 1660s, and migrants from Eastern and Central Europe who helped found communities after the second world war.

There is also a talk about the Sister Cities programme, which has linked Mansfields all around the world.

There will be information about the moving stories of the men from both world wars who are remembered on a war memorial, as well as background to street names, and the chance to take a self-guided tour around Mansfield to discover how many buildings have an association with the chapel.

For a detailed programme check the chapel noticeboards or the Facebook page Mansfield Old Meeting House. Access by car is via an entrance next to Walkden Street Car Park, where there is limited parking. The pedestrian entrance is via Stockwell Gate.