Derbyshire Places of Worship

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John Smedley's Methodist Chapel, Higham, Shirland
John Smedley's Methodist Chapel,
Belper Road (B6013),
Higham, Shirland, 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 1852, but we understand it was closed after 1962.

White's Directory of 1857 under the heading of "Higham" records that "in 1852, John Smedley, Esq. erected a chapel here, for the Wesleyan Reformers; it is a neat stone building, and will seat about 200 hearers, adjoining which is an infant school, built about the same time, and by the same gentleman, who likewise supports it; about 70 children attend". Old Maps show it was on the southern outskirts of Higham, just south of a fork in the road, of which the west branch leads south-west to Wessington, and the east branch towards Shirland. In 1877, it was labelled as "Methodist Chapel (Free)"; in 1899 "Methodist Chapel (Free United)"; and by 1916-17 United Methodist ("U.M. Church"). An Infants' School was shown behind the Chapel in 1877, which by 1916-17 was labelled as "Sunday School". By 1962, both the Chapel (by then labelled as 'Church') and Sunday School were still present, and a roadway running alongside the Chapel and Sunday School was also shown, labelled as "Chapel Yard".

There is very little evidence of the building having been a place of worship in the present day, apart from a porch over the door, on the north side of the building, which has a pointed-arched doorway, and narrow lancet windows at the sides. "Chapel Yard" is a private driveway with 2 properties (postcode DE55 6EH), though this was probably always the case.

Denomination

Now or formerly Wesleyan Reform/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 Chapel was located at OS grid reference SK3904258759. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

Information last updated on 25 Jan 2015 at 10:04.

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This Report was created 25 Nov 2024 - 15:41:18 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/DBY1237.php
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