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

Devonshire Park Methodist Church (Demolished),
Devonshire Road,
Buxton, 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 in 1870, but we understand it was closed by 1921.

Bulmer's Directory of 1895 describes "Devonshire Park Chapel" as "a strongly buttressed edifice of freestone, oblong in shape, erected in 1870, at a cost of about £7,000, and affording accomodation for about 700 worshippers". It consists of nave and apsidal chancel, and is well lighted and furnished. The chancel arch is lofty and pointed. The apse contains three one-light windows, filled with stained glass. The nave is lighted by two-light stone-mullioned tracery-headed windows, two being filled with stained glass. The pulpit is of pitch-pine, octagonal, with circular pillars. The font is of stone, beautifully sculptured. The gallery is lighted by a large four-light tracery-headed window. The outside appearance of the building is enhanced by a tower surmounted by an octagonal spire.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 20th July 1877 (p.4270) recorded its registration for marriages:

NOTICE is hereby given, that a separate building, named the Devonshire Park Wesleyan Chapel, situate at Devonshire Park, in the township of Fairfield, in the parish of Hope, in the county of Derby, in the district of Chapel-en-le-Frith, being a building certified according to law as a place of religious worship, was, 22nd June, 1877, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act 6th and 7th Wm. 4, cap. 85. Dated 25th June 1877.

This, of course, refers to a building no longer in existence. Old Maps show that it stood on the north-east corner of the junction of Devonshire Road and Marlborough Road, with its longer side parallel to Devonshire Road. Derbyshire Record Office's Non-Conformist Register Guide does not indicate there are any surviving registers, but the DRO do hold records of "minutes, accounts and corresp[ondence]" for the period 1897-1949, suggesting it was open until at least 1949.

In fact, according to a notice in the Gazette of 24th May 1921 (p.4128) it ceased to be used as a place of worship on 18th May that year. However, the building evidently survived, as it is still shown on Old Maps of 1967, though no longer labelled as a Church, so perhaps it was in use as a Church Hall.

Since then, however, it has been demolished, and its site is now (2015) occupied by modern housing.

There is an old postcard showing it in its heyday on the Picture The Past website.

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 Church was located at OS grid reference SK0560173833. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Devonshire Park Methodist Church (Demolished), Buxton shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Buxton 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 Buxton, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Historical Photos of Derby, Derbyshire and Nottingham ~ Picture The Past (null) (verified 2018-10-12)
• 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.