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Mount Tabor Methodist Church,
Scarthin Row (north side, next to "Scarthin Books"),
Cromford (Matlock Bath), 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 about 1830, but we understand it was closed in 1958.

The History section on the Cromford Village in Derbyshire website tells us this building (situated next door to "Scarthin Books") was the Mount Tabor Chapel, built in 1912 as a replacement for an earlier building.

The Derbyshire Record Office's Non-Conformist Register Guide records it as "Mount Tabor Methodist Church, Scarthin". They hold baptism records for the chapel covering the period 1884-1955. They record its congregation originally as belonging to the United Methodist Free Churches; however Ann Andrews, on her excellent website devoted to Matlock Churches and Chapels, records the original building as erected in Scarthin Row in 1862 by a congregation of Wesleyan Reformers. The Religious Census of 1851 recorded two congregations of Wesleyan Reformers in Cromford, both meeting in what were, in all probability, private houses, the first specifically so.

The first (HO 129/449/2/9/32) described a building erected "before 1800", with a congregation of Wesleyan Reformers. The return indicated it was a "Dwelling House", with seating for 50, all free; and the estimated congregation of 50 on March 30th in the afternoon, and the same (in the morning) over the past 12 months indicated that all seats were filled. The return was completed by Anthony Britland, its Steward, who gave his address as "Cromford, Derbyshire".

The second (HO 129/449/2/9/33) described a building erected in 1830 with a congregation of "Wesleyan Methodist (Reformers)", not separate, and not used exclusively as a place of worship. It had 150 sittings all free, and the estimated congregation on March 30th was 100 in the morning, and 200 in the evening, with the same number of Sunday Scholars. The return was completed by William Heatley, its Steward, of "Cromford, Derbyshire". The 1851 Census reveals William was then aged 50, born in Armagh, Ireland, and was an Inland Revenue Officer. His wife, Sarrah [sic] was aged 55, and born in Solihull, Warwick[shire].

Perhaps these two active congregations joined forces to build the Chapel in Scarthin Row the following decade. Certainly at the time White's Directory of 1857 was compiled, only one was recorded - "the Wesleyan Reformers hold their services 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.

The next "milestone" for the Reformers (who by then would have joined the United Methodist Church), is the following notice in The London Gazette of 2nd November 1909 (p.8052) of the registration for marriages of:

A Separate Building, duly certified for religious worship, named CROMFORD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, situated at Scarthin, in the civil parish of Matlock Bath, in the county of Derby, in Bakewell registration district, was, on the 27th October, 1909, registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to 6th and 7th Wm. IV, c.85. Dated 28th October 1909.

Although no corresponding notice of the cancellation of this registration has been found, the DRO Guide mentioned above records that the building was closed in 1958, after which its congregation merged with that of the present Cromford Methodist Church ('Via Gellia' Methodist; originally Wesleyan Methodist). The building itself is now in use as an engineering works.

Denomination

Now or formerly Free/United 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 SK2945956983. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Mount Tabor Methodist Church, Cromford (Matlock Bath) 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)

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 Cromford (Matlock Bath), and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• “Derwent Valley Mills World Heritate Site” - Cromford Village in Derbyshire (null) (verified 2018-10-05)
• “The Andrews Pages”, featuring Ann Andrews' study of Matlock Churches and Chapels (null) (verified 2021-09-12)
• 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.