We have 1 Image Above Photograph(s)
Copyright of James Barry, Unitarian Church HQ

Findern Unitarian Chapel (Demolished),
Lower Green,
Findern, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Chapel did 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 the 18th century, but we understand it was closed in 1864.

The old photograph of Findern Chapel which accompanies this account is reproduced by kind permission of James Barry, Unitarian Church HQ. It was passed to me by email on 1st October 2011, so was not one of several images taken from Pictures of Unitarian Churches, by Emily Sharpe (1901), available in the Document Library of The Unitarians, which appear elsewhere in the database.

The chapel's appearance immediately dates it from the late 17th or early 18th century, one of the very early non-conformist chapels or meeting houses. The ministers ejected from their churches as a result of Charles II's Act of Uniformity in 1662 continued to preach to their followers from that time, but it was not until the Religious Toleration Act of 1689 that they were allowed to meet in public places, and thus to build places of worship of their own.

"Chapels built within a few decades of the Toleration Act rarely looked like church buildings at all. Often they were not even called churches or chapels, the term "meeting house" being used instead."

"Were it not for the twin doors in the frontage (one for men and one for women) and the absence of chimneys, [the early chapel at Findern] could be mistaken for a house".

By 1864 it was no longer in use as a chapel, so the building was offered for sale. It was bought by subscription, and until its demolition in 1939, it was used as the village school. It stood at the entrance to the present Brook Close, on the opposite side of the road to All Saints Church, and its position (as the school) may be seen on Old Maps. [Other Source: South Derbyshire Heritage News, Issue 17, Autumn 2004, formerly available on South Derbyshire District Council website]

Denomination

Now or formerly 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 was located at OS grid reference SK3092130407. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Findern Unitarian Chapel (Demolished), Findern shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Findern 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 Findern, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches - The Unitarians (null) (verified 2018-10-10)
• The Local Government website of South Derbyshire District Council (null) (verified 2018-10-05)

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.