Derbyshire Places of Worship

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Wycliffe Congregational Church (now 'New Life Church'), Alfreton
Wycliffe Congregational Church (now 'New Life Church'),
Church Street, DE55 7AH,
Alfreton, 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 1700, but we understand it was closed in 1997.

Wycliffe Congregational (later United Reformed) Church was, according to Kelly's Directory of 1932, founded in 1708. It was enlarged in 1906, Sunday schools were added and an Assembly Hall erected, at a total cost of £1,700.

Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses, Derbyshire (1986) describes it as "brick and slate with gabled stone front, in Romanesque style by G.C. Gilbert of Nottingham", and built in 1850 on a new site for a church which originated in the late 17th century. The north front has two tiers of windows, a north-west tower, formerly with a spire. The interior is divided by east and west arcades, with clerestory lighting and has a small wheel window above the north-east entrance, of nine lights (8 'petals' around a 'centre') of coloured glass.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/446/5/1/5) for the "Congregational Independent" building in Church Street describes it as erected "in the year 1850 in lieu of one built before 1700". It had free seating for 130 and 180 "other" sittings, and on March 30th, there were an estimated 50 at morning service, with 72 Sunday Scholars. In the evening, 320 worshippers attended, because according to Joshua Roberts, of "Church St, Alfreton", who completed the return, "a funeral service caused an increase on that Day".

In, or after 1973, the congregation joined the United Reformed Church. Derbyshire Record Office's Non-Conformist Register Guide for "Wycliffe United Reformed Church" includes transcriptions of baptisms 1877-1996, marriages 1877-1995, deaths 1909-1931, and burials 1881-1890. They also include the information that it was built in 1854, certified for worship in 1856, and closed in 1997. Note: there is no graveyard shown on Old Maps, so it may be that the records of burials refer to interments taking place elsewhere.

A notice of its closure, and the cancellation of its registration for marriages was published in The London Gazette of 24th March 1998 (p.3406); and by 1999 it had become the home of King's Community Church. In the present day, however (2016), it is the home of Alfreton New Life Church.

Denomination

Now or formerly Congregational/Independent.

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 SK4086555763. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

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 Alfreton, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

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.

Information last updated on 21 Jul 2016 at 14:52.

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Further Information

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This Report was created 25 Nov 2024 - 15:31:13 GMT from information held in the Derbyshire section of the Places of Worship Database. This was last updated on 13 Oct 2021 at 14:33.

URL of this page: https://churchdb.gukutils.org.uk/DBY1501.php
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