Elder Yard Chapel, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Church History

Derbyshire Places of Worship

We have 1 Image

Above Photograph(s)
Copyright of James Barry, Unitarian Church HQ

Elder Yard Chapel, Chesterfield

Elder Yard Chapel,
Elder Way, S40 1UR,
Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

This Chapel has (or had) a graveyard.
Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded in 1694, and we understand it is still open.

Elder Yard Chapel is recorded in Kelly's Directory of 1895 as the oldest dissenting place of worship in the town. Indeed, it continues to maintain its reputation in the present day, ably summed up in the final paragraph of the account of The Old Meeting House - The Story of Elder Yard Chapel, Chesterfield, on Tom Bates 'About Derbyshire' website:
"The legacy left behind by those who have gone before has ensured the future of this historic old Meeting House and it continues to flourish and provide a peaceful haven for the people of the town, and a place of worship for the Nonconformist Dissenters of Chesterfield - as it has done for over 300 years".
I cannot speak too highly of Tom's site. There is a wealth of interesting articles to capture one's interest, as for instance the History of Chesterfield Market, dating back to 1204 (or earlier) when the Lord of the Manor was granted the right to hold Tuesday and Saturday markets, "and an annual fair each September, which lasted for eight days from the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14th to the autumnal equinox on the 22nd".
The image (above) of Elder Yard Chapel which accompanies this account is a reproduction of a wood-cut from Pictures of Unitarian Churches, by Emily Sharpe (1901), available in the Document Library of The Unitarians. The text at the bottom of the image reads:
Elder Yard Chapel, Chesterfield (Derbyshire).
Built in 1694, and an addition made at the east end in 1823.
[Image reproduced by kind permission of James Barry, Unitarian Church HQ]

Denomination

Now or formerly Presbyterian/Unitarian.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Chapel is located at OS grid reference SK3832571232. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

Elder Yard Chapel, Chesterfield shown on a Google Map.
Places of Worship in Chesterfield shown on a Google Map.
Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Chesterfield, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

“A writer who captures the essential spirit of Derbyshire in words” - Tom Bates 'About Derbyshire' (null) (verified 2018-10-02)
The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches - The Unitarians (null) (verified 2018-10-10)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.

Information last updated on 13 Dec 2018 at 10:38.

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Further Information

This site provides historical information about churches, other places of worship and cemeteries. It has no affiliation with the churches or congregations themselves, nor is it intended to provide a means to find places of worship in the present day.

Please also remember that whilst the above account may suggest that Elder Yard Chapel remains open and accessible, this may not remain so.

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This Report was created 26 Nov 2024 - 08:27:48 GMT from information held in the Derbyshire section of the Places of Worship Database. This was last updated on 13 Oct 2021 at 14:33.

URL of this page: https://churchdb.gukutils.org.uk/DBY141.php

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