30 Jun 2026

Rev. Hezekiah Kirkpatrick (c.1738–1799) – The Minister Who Planted More Than Trees

Every gravestone has a story.

Most people see only names and dates. But every stone marks a life that loved, struggled, hoped, believed, and left its mark upon the world.

Stories from the Graveyard is an invitation to rediscover the people who shaped Park Lane Chapel and the community around it. Through forgotten diaries, old photographs, fading inscriptions and remarkable lives, we remember those whose faith, courage and compassion continue to speak across the generations.

Because ministry is never the work of one generation alone.

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Just inside the entrance to Park Lane Chapel, close to the lych gate, lies the grave of the Rev. Hezekiah Kirkpatrick. Countless visitors pass it every year without perhaps realising that they are walking beside one of the most remarkable ministers in the chapel’s long history.

Transcription of Headstone

To the Memory
of the Revᵈ Hezekiah Kirkpatrick
13 Years Miniſter of this Congregation
As a Friend
He was amiable ſocial and generous
In his Publick Character
He was an ingenious Advocate
and an able Supporter of Truth and being
bleſs’d by the Heart of Man he follows in
the Dictates of his Conſcience
and alſo ſeeking for
the Approbation
of his God.

He died Septʳ 19th 1799 Aged 61 Years.

The dead leaves a precious Example.

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Hezekiah Kirkpatrick was the third minister of Park Lane Chapel, serving during a period when English Presbyterianism was beginning its journey towards the liberal tradition that would eventually become modern Unitarianism. Born around 1738, he belonged to a generation of ministers who believed that faith should be thoughtful, compassionate and unafraid of honest enquiry.

Before coming to Park Lane, he had already established a distinguished reputation. In 1763, he became one of the founding ministers of Liverpool’s Octagon Chapel, one of the most significant centres of liberal Christianity in eighteenth-century England. Alongside his ministry, he was also a respected educator, later building and serving as headmaster of Eton House Boarding School in Liverpool.

In 1785, he published Sermons on Various Subjects, a remarkable collection that offers us a window into both his preaching and his character.  

Reading his words today is a striking experience.

Rather than demanding unquestioning obedience, Kirkpatrick wrote:

“I acknowledge myself open to conviction; and if it can be proved to me that I am in an error, I will immediately embrace any form of worship, which shall appear more conformant to the religion of Jesus Christ.”  

For an eighteenth-century minister, this was a remarkable declaration. It reveals a man whose confidence rested not in certainty, but in the conviction that truth has nothing to fear from honest enquiry.

He went even further in describing what he believed lay at the heart of Protestant Dissent:

”…no man, or body of men upon earth, have any right to prescribe forms of worship, or articles of faith… this is contrary to the spirit of the Christian Religion, and to the unalienable rights of conscience.”  

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Today, these words sound almost self-evident. Freedom of conscience, the right to read Scripture thoughtfully, and the belief that faith should never be imposed by authority are principles embraced across much of the Christian world and protected within modern democratic society.

In Kirkpatrick’s lifetime, they were anything but ordinary.

History has, in many respects, vindicated the principles for which he quietly but courageously stood.

Yet perhaps the greatest discovery about Hezekiah Kirkpatrick was not found in one of his printed sermons.

Alongside his published work, a personal diary survives.

At first glance, it appears to be an ordinary notebook, but within its pages are brief entries that suddenly transform him from a figure in history into a living, breathing human being.

One entry, dated 24 March 1786, simply records:

“Planted eight apple trees grafted on paradise stocks, bought of Caldwell of Wavertree.”

It is such an ordinary sentence.

And yet it is profoundly moving.

Suddenly, we no longer picture only the preacher standing in his pulpit. We see a man walking through the chapel grounds, selecting young fruit trees, carefully planting them, and faithfully recording the day’s work.

Those trees have almost certainly disappeared.

The minister who planted them has lain peacefully in the churchyard for more than two centuries.

Yet the act of planting remains a beautiful image of ministry itself.

Every minister plants something.

Sometimes it is a tree.

Sometimes it is an idea.

Sometimes it is a community.

Sometimes it is hope.

The fruit is often enjoyed by generations that will never meet.

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As the thirty-first minister of Park Lane Chapel, I find something deeply humbling in reading the words of a predecessor who walked these same paths over two hundred years ago. We have preached beneath the same roof, cared for different generations of the same community, and shared the same hope that faith should encourage people to think deeply, love generously and leave the world kinder than they found it.

Standing beside his grave today, I cannot help but think that Rev. Hezekiah Kirkpatrick planted far more than apple trees.

He planted a vision of Christianity rooted in reason, compassion, freedom and conscience.

His sermons still speak.

His diary still inspires.

His gravestone still welcomes those who enter Park Lane Chapel.

And the seeds he planted continue to bear fruit.

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Every gravestone has a story. If we are willing to listen, the past still has something to teach us.

Until next time, may we continue to honour those who have gone before us by the lives we choose to live today.