Default Image Place of Worship has been
Demolished.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

Bridge Street Methodist Church (Demolished),
Bridge Street,
Clay Cross, 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 in 1849, but we understand it was closed after 1936.

This is one of four Methodist Chapels built in Clay Cross around the same time (1848-51). There is a return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/448/1/8/30) for a Primitive Methodist congregation meeting in "Ebenezer Chapel", in the parish of North Wingfield (of which at the time Clay Cross was a township) which appears to fit. It was erected in 1849 as a separate building, used exclusively as a place of worship with free seating for 150, and 100 "other" sittings. The average congregation was 50 to afternoon services, and 150 in the evening; with 84 Sunday Scholars at morning class, 74 in the afternoon, and 150 in the evenings - obviously well-attended. The return was completed by James Shaw, its Minister, of "Clay Cross, Near Chesterfield".

Derbyshire Record Office's Non-Conformist Register Guide includes registers of marriages at Bridge Street Methodist Chapel for the period 1913-1935, and also records that it was abandoned in 1936. According to Kelly's Directory of 1932, it was a large building, with seating for 620, so it seems curious that it should be abandoned so soon after; however there appears to be some doubt about that, as the following notice in The London Gazette of 24th April 1936 (p.2636) indicates otherwise:

NOTICE is hereby given that the Building formerly known as METHODIST CHAPEL, situated at Clay Cross, in the civil parish of Clay Cross, in the registration district of Chesterfield, in the county of Derby, which was duly registered for marriages pursuant to the Act 6 & 7 Will. IV, c.85, is no longer available for the solemnization of marriages, and the Registry thereof was therefore on the 20th day of April, 1936, formally cancelled by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales. The Building remains certified as a place of worship. Dated 22nd April 1936.

Certainly, Places recorded by the Registrar General under the provisions of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 (2010) lists a Methodist Chapel in Bridge Street still in existence, though it may well have closed before that, for instance by 1964, when the Central Methodist Church was built.

It has since been demolished, and in the present day, its site is occupied partly by industrial premises, and partly by improvements to the junction between Bridge Street and Market Street, which has been widened.

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 SK3927663485. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Bridge Street Methodist Church (Demolished), Clay Cross shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Clay Cross 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 Clay Cross, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Places recorded by the Registrar General under the provisions of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 (2010) is available as a "Freedom of Information" document on the website What Do They Know. (verified 2018-10-14)
• 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.