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Wesleyan Chapel,
Barlborough, 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 by 1851, but we understand it was closed by 1875.

"Barlborough - a Roundabout or a Village?" This has been a question posed on the Barlborough Life website, which (for me) sums up the modern viewpoint. Its nearness to Junction 30 on the M1 - the iconic "Barlborough Roundabout" of the 1960s (a landmark at that time) - leads to a sense of it being a substantial settlement, but in fact it remains a small village.

Seemingly, it has only ever had 2 active places of worship at any one time - the parish church, St James the Greater, and a Methodist Chapel. In the late 19th century this was a Free United Methodist Chapel in California Lane, which apparently became a Sunday School after the opening of a Primitive Methodist Chapel in New Street in 1913. The latter remains open today as Barlborough's Methodist Chapel.

Prior to all this, however, a return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/436/4/2/10) indicates an incipient Wesleyan Methodist congregation. An estimated congregation of 55 on March 30th met in a with seating for 40, in a building used for other purposes. This information provided by the congregation's Class Leader, Joseph Hopkinson, of "Barlbroh, Nr. Chesterfield".

White's Directory of Sheffield and Twenty Miles Round, dated 1852, reveals that Joseph Hopkinson was a brick and tile maker (hollow bricks, &c.).

The next reference to a Wesleyan Chapel is in White's Directory of 1857, when "the late Mr. George Boaler left by will, the sum of £50 towards the erection of a Wesleyan Chapel... but it has not yet been applied for that purpose".

In the absence of knowing whether one was ever built, the Grid Reference supplied below indicates the Village Cross - a convenient central point for a meeting.

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 in the town/village nearest OS grid reference SK4761577278. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

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

• Blog for “a small village in Derbyshire” - Barlborough Life (null) (verified 2018-10-26)

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.