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Bethel Methodist Church,
Victoria Road, DE55 2BX,
South Normanton, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

This Church has/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 before 1880, but we don't know whether or not it is still open.

There is a photograph of Bethel Chapel on the Geograph website. It is on the east side of Victoria Street, built of brick, with transepts. The west transept, facing the road, had a large round-arched stained window with 4 lights, and a decorative "mandala" in the gable. Between the two is a plaque which reads "Bethel Chapel 1900".

Apparently this was the Chapel's second home. Earlier Maps show that a Bethel Chapel (United Free Methodist) existed, in what is now Sporton Lane, adjacent to a public house called the "Shoulder of Mutton".

This is confirmed by an account of the Chapel's history on its former website - www.bethel-methodist-sn.co.uk - available via "The Way-Back Machine". Their account records that Bethel in its present location "was opened as an independent place of worship on the 5th December 1886 with a procession from the previous building (converted farm buildings) on the corner of Sporton Lane and Main Street". The new building was designed by a 21-year old architect, John Tomlinson, who later became a local Preacher, JP, Chapel and Trust Secretary. Initially, the Sunday school continued in the Old Chapel, but in 1889 a separate building was built facing onto Albert Street.

The church was extended in 1906, and wings added giving it a cruciform shape. An organ was obtained and installed in the 'Head of the Cross' with an area for the pulpit and a choir in front, with John Tomlinson again the architect. A stained glass window in memory of Charles and Matilda Tomlinson was installed in the Victoria Street wing.

The Old Chapel now appears to have been demolished; and the state of the present building is uncertain. I suspect it may now (2013) be closed, as "Bethel" is not listed as one of the Churches in the Borders Mission Circuit, whereas Zion Methodist Church, in Market Street, is. The Borders Circuit was created in 2010 to encompass the four former Circuits of Ashfield (Nottinghamshire), Clay Cross, Ripley and South Normanton.

The Salvation Army South Normanton Corps meet in a small building to the left of Bethel.

Denomination

Now or formerly Free/United Methodist.

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 is/was located at OS grid reference SK4443056926. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Bethel Methodist Church, South Normanton shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in South Normanton 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 South Normanton, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• You may like to see photograph(s) of Bethel Chapel on the Geograph website.
• A group of Methodist Churches serving the area along the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border - the Borders Mission Circuit (null) (verified 2018-10-07)

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.