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Wesleyan Reform Chapel,
Cross Lane / Green Lane,
Coal Aston, Dronfield, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Chapel 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 1848, and we understand it is still open.

This is a small single-cell chapel, on the corner of Green Lane and Cross Lane, next to modern housing. It has a gabled front, with a horizontal band of stone at roof level, which extends beyond the sides, simulating shaped kneelers. Otherwise it is very plain. It is built of local stone, with a central round-arched doorway featuring a keystone, and door jambs with pilasters; and an oblong date stone in the gable, which reads "Wesleyan / 1848". The only windows are in the sides. It is situated on the north-east corner of the junction of Cross Lane with Green Lane.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/448/5/3/7) for the Wesleyan Chapel at Coal Aston describes a separate building, erected in 1848, used exclusively as a place of worship and Sunday School. It had free seating for 70, and 30 "other" sittings, and the estimated congregation on March 30th was 30 in the morning, with 40 Sunday Scholars, and 50 in the evening. The return was completed by Henry Hardcastle, who gave his address as "Coalaston, Dronfield, Sheffield".

The entry for Coal Aston in White's Directory of Derbyshire of 1857 records "a neat stone chapel... erected by the Wesleyans, in 1848, which will hold about 100", but by then (so White says) it belonged to the Wesleyan Reformers.

It is still known as "Coal Aston Wesleyan Reform", or locally "Top Chapel", to distinguish it from the former Primitive Methodist Chapel in Eckington Road, with whom (as of 2018) its congregation still have close links. Or for those looking for more recent information the Churches Together in Dronfield and District may be of assistance.

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 is located at OS grid reference SK3605279452. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

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

• Information about Churches Together in Dronfield and District (null) (verified 2018-09-30)

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.