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St John the Baptist's Church,
Westfield Lane,
Middle Handley, Eckington, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

This Church 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 1838, but we understand it was closed in 2012.

St John the Baptist is (or was) a chapel of ease of Staveley, built in 1838, according to Derbyshire Record Office's catalogue of Church of England Registers.

The Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/448/4/1/1) for "Handley Chapel - Chapel of ease to Staveley Church", licensed in 1839, recorded an estimated congregation on March 30th of 50 in the afternoon, and 38 Sunday Scholars (no other services) was completed by J.D. Macfarlane, Rector of Staveley. In the space for "How or by Whom Erected", he noted that it was "by the Duke of Devonshire, but the late Rector is expected to contribute £300"; and by way of "Remarks" that there was "better attendance always in Summer".

"Handley", in this case appears to relate to Middle Handley. The combined hamlets of Nether, Middle and West Handley were originally in the parish of Staveley, but were transferred to the parish of Eckington in the 1970s.

Note: researchers should be aware that there is another Handley in Derbyshire, between Ashover and Stretton, so it is important to distinguish the two.

It is, however referred to simply as "Handley", in the Church Commissioners Report on Pastoral and Closed Churches in Derby Diocese, on the Church of England website, which records that it was closed with effect from 1st August 2012, and thereafter transferred into residential use.

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

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 Church was located at OS grid reference SK4061177732. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St John the Baptist's Church, Middle Handley, Eckington shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Eckington 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 Middle Handley, Eckington, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The Church Commissioners Report on Pastoral and Closed Churches, found on the Church of England (null) (verified 2018-10-04)

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.