Default Image Place of Worship has been
Demolished.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

General Baptist Meeting Room (Demolished?),
Mark[et] Club Room,
Cromford, 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 1800, but we understand it was closed after 1851.

This Baptist Mission first came to my attention on the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/449/2/9/34). It is described as "General Baptist Meeting Room or Mark[s] Club Room", in Cromford. The script is very faint, so "Marks" could read "Market". The building was erected "before 1800", was not separate and was not used exclusively as a place of worship. All the seating was free, and there was standing room for "100 persons", The estimated congregation on March 30th, and the average were the same - 30 worshippers at both afternoon and evening services. The return was completed by Samuel Bown [or Brown], who described himself as Assistant Deacon, of "Market Place, Cromford". He remarked that "The Room has of late been occupied in the Morning by the Reform Wesleyan Methodist Denomination and the attendance has been about 50 as an average".

It is to be regretted that I cannot decipher the name of the Club Room, in spite of diligent efforts. So the best approximation I can provide for the Mission's location is somewhere in the Market Place. Possibly, the Club Room was attached to the Greyhound Inn, or evolved into today's Community Centre, at 9 Market Place, but this must remain conjecture for the time being.

There were, in fact two congregations of Wesleyan Methodist Reformers recorded on the 1851 Census in Cromford. White's Directory of 1857 records only one - meeting in "a large room at Scarthing Row", but whether that means there was only one by then, or whether the other one wasn't considered important enough to mention is unknown. Likewise, White makes no mention of a Baptist congregation.

Denomination

Now or formerly General Baptist.

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 in the town/village nearest OS grid reference SK2954056929. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• General Baptist Meeting Room (Demolished?), Cromford shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Cromford 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)