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

Methodist Memorial Church (Demolished),
High Street / Stead Street,
Eckington, 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 1807, but we understand it was closed in 1964.

Derbyshire Record Office's Non-Conformist Register Guide includes a register of marriages at Eckington's Wesleyan Methodist Chapel for the period 1914-1963. It also informs us that it was also known as "Methodist Memorial Church", first built in 1807, and closed in 1964.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/448/4/2/8) for "Wesleyan Chapel", Eckington, describes a separate building, built in 1807, and used exclusively as a place of worship. It had free seating for 200, and 100 "other" sittings, and the estimated congregation on March 30th was 34 in the morning, 37 in the evening, and 54 and 87 Sunday Scholars respectively. The return was completed by Joshua Chapman, its Steward, who gave his address as "Eckington Nr. Chesterfield, Derbyshire".

This was replaced in 1876 by a new building, which according to an Archaeological Assessment Report for Eckington, available on the Archaeology Data Service website was built immediately behind the earlier one. Old Maps of 1877 show a building facing the High Street, with a Sunday School at the rear, facing towards Stead Street. It is described in Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses, Derbyshire (1986) as "a large building with stone walls and elaborate ashlar front of five bays with two Corinthian columns in antis, entablature with frieze inscribed 'IN MEMORIAM', and balustraded parapet with urns". They add that it was built in memory of George Wells, a colliery owner, by his family.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 31st July 1883 (p.3824) recorded its registration for marriages:

NOTICE is hereby given, that a separate building, named the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, situate at High-street, in the parish of Eckington, in the county of Derby, in the district of Chesterfield, being a building certified according to law as a place of religious worship, was, on the 17th day of July, 1883, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act of 6th and 7th Wm. 4, cap. 85. Dated 20th July 1883.

A corresponding notice of cancellation, for "MEMORIAL METHODIST CHURCH, Eckington", was published in the Gazette of 24th April 1964 (p.3611). Maps after this date show it had become a "Works". The Picture The Past website has photographs, and the accompanying information says this was the firm of "Penny Hydraulics"; adding that in spite of attempts by the Eckington Preservation Group to save the building, it was demolished in 1977. The site also has photographs of the Old Wesleyan Building, which was converted into 2 houses, one for the minister of the replacement Chapel. This was still in existence in 1976, but I have been unable to discover whether this is still the case.

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 SK4279779300. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

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

• The officially accredited archive of heritage data - Archaeology Data Service (null) (verified 2021-09-12)
• 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.