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Friends Meeting House,
Hands Road,
Heanor, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

This Church 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 in 1834, but we understand it was closed in 1923.

This is one of two entries in Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses, Derbyshire (1986) under "Heanor". Their account records that the site was bought by the Friends in May 1834, and a meeting house built shortly afterwards. At the time of their report, it has a hipped roof, with brick walls, which had been rendered. The broad north front had two windows with splayed lintels and a large gabled central porch. There was a stepped gallery and modern porch at the west end. In the front yard were several reset headstones of 1840 and later.

Their account says it was closed in 1936, and transferred for the use of the Pentecostal Church; however this date appears to be incorrect, as the notice of its closure was published in The London Gazette of 15th May 1923 (p.3512), and the certification for marriages of its successor, the "PENTECOSTAL CHURCH, situated at Hands-road, Heanor", on 29th June 1923 (p.4554).

The original building is not now visible via Google StreetView, as what looks like a new extension has been built onto the Hands Road end for the present congregation - the Heanor Christian Centre. I presume the original building still lies behind it.

Derbyshire Record Office's Non-Conformist Register Guide mentions there is a transcription of burials for the period 1875-1882, 1886 and 1895. The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/438/2/1/5) is for a place of worship built in 1834, with standing room for 757 on the floor, and 273 in the galleries. On March 30th there was an estimated 13 at morning service, none in the afternoon or evening. The return was completed by Francis T. Howitt, of Heanor, who remarked that "the Bible Meetings are held occasionally, also lectures on Philanthropic Subjects".

Denomination

Now or formerly Quaker.

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 SK4366946416. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Friends Meeting House, Heanor shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Heanor 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 Heanor, 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.