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Photograph at present.
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Congregational Chapel (Lydney United Reformed Church),
Tutnalls Street, GL15 5PG,
Lydney, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Chapel does NOT have 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 1906, and we understand it is still open.

This is an intriguing building, as it very smart and almost newly built. Yet above the central doorway is a square plaque with the legend "Congregational Chapel 1928". It is of red brick, with 2-light pointed-arched windows on either side of the door, and a similar 3-light window above the plaque. There is a course of 6 squared memorial stones to either side of the doorway embedded in the brickwork, and the windows and doorway are surrounded with similar dressed stone.

An account accompanying a photograph of Lydney United Reformed Church on the Geograph website explains that it replaced a corrugated iron structure, sometimes referred to as "The Tin Chapel", on the same plot, Tutnalls Street, near the corner with Pylers Way.

This is confirmed by the Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp.46-84 (Lydney) - "a Congregational church, using a corrugated iron building in Tutnalls Street, was formed in 1906", with the new brick chapel built in 1928.

OS 1902-1903 1:2,500 labels a "Latter Day Saints Church" in the same location as OS 1921 1:2,500 shows a "Congregational Church", abutting a terrace of 6 properties to the north (as it does today), and a smaller property set back from the road to the south, both of which, according to earlier Old Maps, predate the Church. So in its early years, the Congregational Chapel must have either shared premises with LDS, or moved into the Tin Chapel after LDS left. At any rate, so far as Old Maps are concerned, they appear to be mutually exclusive, not being shown on the same map at the same time.

Denomination

Now or formerly Congregational/United Reformed (URC).

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 SO6385003013. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Congregational Chapel (Lydney United Reformed Church), Lydney shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Lydney 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 Lydney, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• You may like to see photograph(s) of Lydney United Reformed Church on the Geograph website.
• The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (null) (verified 2018-11-06)

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.