Derbyshire Places of Worship

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Watchorn Memorial Methodist Church, Alfreton
Watchorn Memorial Methodist Church,
Derby Road, DE55 7AQ,
Alfreton, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Church does 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 1928, and we understand it is still open.

Alfreton's Watchorn Methodist Church is part of the Watchorn Estate, built by local benefactor Robert Watchorn (1858-1944) in memory of "his mother, his son Ewart and Abraham Lincoln, whom he considered the greatest man ever born". The Church was built 1927-9 - there is a photograph, and more information about Watchorn School and Church on the Geograph website.

Derbyshire Record Office's Non-Conformist Register Guide includes transcriptions of baptisms for the period 1928-1958, and of marriages for 1930-1946.

The "Watchorn Complex" was finally completed in 1939. "A fine church and manse with school, houses of pleasing design, a library, a tree-embowered Garden of Rest, and a children's Pleasure Park had replaced the eyesores of former years".

The Church, Sunday School and houses are on the east side of the Derby Road, and the Alma Watchorn Memorial Park on the west. Reginald Johnson, in A History of Alfreton (1968) comments: "until recent roadworks wrought havoc with the vicinity of the Watchorn Estate, this for many years, had been the most attractive entry to the town. The Garden of Rest has suffered from these road improvements, but the main features of this munificent gift to Alfreton remain unharmed". Sadly, however the buildings are not Listed - the Sunday School has been the most recent casualty: it was demolished in 2011. [Sources: Reginald Johnson, A History of Alfreton (1968) p.199, and Janet Kirk]

Denomination

Now or formerly 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 is located at OS grid reference SK4073855184. 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 19 Dec 2013 at 08:58.

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Further Information

This site provides historical information about churches, other places of worship and cemeteries. It has no affiliation with the churches or congregations themselves, nor is it intended to provide a means to find places of worship in the present day.

Please also remember that whilst the above account may suggest that Watchorn Memorial Methodist Church remains open and accessible, this may not remain so.

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This Report was created 25 Nov 2024 - 17:34:48 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/DBY1502.php
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