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Grindleford Bridge Chapel,
Grindleford Bridge,
Grindleford, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Chapel 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 1766, but we understand it was closed by 1905.

Methodism may have first arrived in Grindleford as early as 1766. John Wesley, in his Journal for the period 27th May 1765 to 18th May 1768 records that on Thursday 27th March 1766, "I preached in the morning at a little village, near Eyam, in the High-Peak. The eagerness with which the poor people devoured the word, made me amends for the cold ride over the snowy mountains".

The little village is reputedly Grindleford Bridge, and he may have been travelling there from Sheffield, as his entry for 2 days before (March 25th) describes preaching at "Creitch" [Crich], and "thence we rode on through several heavy showers of snow to Sheffield, where, at six, we had a numerous congregation. There has been much disturbance here this winter. But to night all was peace".

Wesley's visit may have been a consequence of an abortive attempt to introduce Methodism to Eyam in 1765. William Wood, in The History and Antiquities of Eyam (1842) describes Mr. Matthew Mayer, of Portwood-hall, near Stockport preaching twice at Eyam that year, and meeting with so much hostility that he each time narrowly escaped with life. Thereafter the mass of the villagers would not suffer the preachers to come into the village... the few converts to the new doctrine repaired to Grindleford Bridge, where the preachers were not molested.

Thereafter various directories record a Methodist Chapel in Grindleford Bridge, built in 1830.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/449/3/6/8) for "Grindleford Bridge Chapel", for a Wesleyan Methodist congregation describes a separate building, erected "before 1800", used exclusively as a place of worship. It had free sittings for 54, and 46 "other" sittings, and the estimated congregation on March 30th was 29 in the morning, 43 in the afternoon, and 16 in the evening; and there were 42 Sunday Scholars at morning class, and 45 in the afternoon. The return was completed by Joseph Andrew, its Steward, who gave his address as "Grindleford Bridge, Derbyshire". He remarked it was "an unusually slender attendance this day, in consequence of the weather being showery and the district straggling. The night service is a prayer meeting".

Old Maps of 1880 and 1898 show a building labelled as "Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan Reform)" in between where the present Methodist Church stands, and the "Pinfold". Evidently, it did change its allegiance to become a "Reform" Chapel, as the entry in Harrod's Directory of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland and Staffordshire of 1870 for Woodland Eyam records the Rev. Joseph Andrew as Wesleyan Reform minister for the township.

It was replaced by the new building in 1904-5, and on the next available Map, of 1922, the original building was labelled "Institute". In 1971, as today, it can be seen attached, as it was (presumably) originally, to a property now known as "Rose Cottage.

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 was located at OS grid reference SK2421777802. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Grindleford Bridge Chapel, Grindleford shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Grindleford 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)