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Copyright of Mike Berrell
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The Churches of Britain and Ireland website.

Primitive Hall Methodist,
Main Street,
Chelmorton, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Church 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 before 1800, but we understand it was closed by 1995.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/449/1/13/22) for the "Chapel" in Chelmorton describes a separate building, erected "before 1800" used exclusively as a place of worship by a Primitive Methodist congregation. There were sittings for 95, all free, and all for "Publick Worship" The estimated congregation on March 30th was the same as the average 40, and no Sunday Scholars. The return was completed by Joseph Hodgkinson, its Manager, who gave his address as "Chelmorton Near Bakewell". He remarked that "Primitive Methodism nearly extinct. There is very rarely any service, and is always thinly attended, the Inhabitants preferring the Established Church".

In spite of the doom and gloom expressed by Mr Hodgkinson, Primitive Methodism did survive long enough into the 19th century for a new building to be erected in 1874. It is not known whether it was erected on the site of the earlier building, nor whether worship was continuous over the intervening years.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 19th May 1876 (p.3049) recorded its registration for marriages:

NOTICE is hereby given, that A separate building, named Primitive Methodist Chapel, situate at Chelmorton, in the parish of Chelmorton, in the county of Derby, in the district of Bakewell, being a building certified according to law as a place of religious worship, was, on the 2nd day of May, 1876, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act of 6th and 7th Wm. 4, cap. 85. Dated 10th May 1876.

A comparable notice, that "METHODIST CHAPEL, Chelmorton" was no longer used as a place of worship, was published in the Gazette of 13th July 1995 (p.9688); and our photographer, Mike Berrell, informs us that the building is now in secular use.

Denomination

Now or formerly Primitive 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 was located at OS grid reference SK1117169854. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Primitive Hall Methodist, Chelmorton shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Chelmorton 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 Chelmorton, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Notices of Civil Registration of Places of Worship for marriages are published in the London edition of The Gazette. Hint: search for registrations from 1998 by choosing 'Church' notices, and the option 'Registration for solemnising marriage'. (verified 2018-12-11)

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.