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Holmgate Road Methodist Chapel,
Holmgate Road,
Clay Cross, 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 1848, but we understand it was closed in 1900.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/448/1/8/29) for a building with a Wesleyan congregation describes a separate building used exclusively as a place of worship, opened on April 30th 1848. It had free seating for 100, and 100 "other" sittings, and the estimated congregation on March 30th was 40 in the afternoon and 50 in the evening, with 55 and 14 Sunday Scholars respectively. The return was completed by Joseph Peake, its Steward who was also a Carpenter, living in "Clay Cross, Chesterfield, Derbyshire".

This was one of several Methodist Chapels in Clay Cross, formed around the same time - 1848-1851. A Clay Cross Character Statement ~ prepared for the North East Derbyshire District Council in 2010 ~ noted that a diversity of chapels was welcomed by the Clay Cross Company, as it lessened the possibility of organised dissent amongst its workers. It also explains that the early chapels were generally quite plain, and "utilitarian in character with only a datestone and tablet and perhaps arched windows to mark them out from the ordinary outbuilding". This may have facilitated their later conversion to other use, as indeed was the case here. It was converted into a dwelling in 1900, and renamed Alma Lodge. Its congregation, I assume, then joined with one of the other Methodist Chapels in the town - possibly Market Street, as that began life in 1877 as "Free Methodist, but Old Maps after 1917 show it as "Wesleyan Methodist".

Denomination

Now or formerly Wesleyan 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 SK3910563488. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Holmgate Road Methodist Chapel, 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.

• The Local Government website of North East Derbyshire District Council (null) (verified 2018-10-04)

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.