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Bethesda Methodist Chapel,
Heanor Road / Nottingham Road,
Codnor, 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 1854, but we understand it was closed in 1980.

This is (or was) a medium sized chapel, with two tiers of rectangular windows at the front, filled with decorative glass. The central doorway has an elegant canopy above it. The sides are of 4 bays, with similar windows to those at the front in the upper tier, but the lower openings have been filled in. A date stone in the gable at the front reads "1854"; Old Maps of 1900 indicate it was a Free United Methodist Chapel, and Old Maps of 1968-1970 indicate it was known as "Bethesda Methodist Church".

The following notice published in The London Gazette of 13th November 1980 (p.15788) indicates its closure:

The Registrar General, being satisfied that BETHESDA METHODIST CHURCH, junction of Heanor and Nottingham Roads, Codnor in the registration district of Ilkeston in the Non-Metropolitan County of Derbyshire is no longer used as a place of worship by the congregation on whose behalf it was on 1st June 1875 registered for marriages in accordance with the Marriage Act 1836, has cancelled the registration. Dated 7th November 1980.

It was the last of the three "old" Methodist Chapels marked on Maps of 1900 to close, all of them presumably, being superseded by Codnor Methodist Church, a modern building in Mill Lane. It was built originally for a breakaway group of Wesleyan Reformers, from the original Wesleyan Chapel in Codnor, in Heanor Road. There is more information about this, and about other Chapels in Codnor on the Codnor & District Local History & Heritage website.

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 SK4200049541. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Bethesda Methodist Chapel, Codnor shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Codnor 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 Codnor, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• A website which is a joy to visit - all you might ever want to know about Codnor and its people - Codnor & District Local History & Heritage (null) (verified 2018-10-05)
• 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.