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

John Smedley's Church (Demolished),
Old Hackney Lane (now Smedley Street),
Matlock, 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 before 1886.

This Church was erected by John Smedley in the grounds of his Hydro - there are two images of it, and a detailed account in Ann Andrews' collection of Eighteenth & Nineteenth Century Images of Matlock and Matlock Bath - it will be found in the Matlock section, described as United Methodist Free Chapel, Smedley's Hydro, 1885.

It would have stood on the opposite side of the road to, and a short distance to the east of, the present All Saints' Church, and is shown on Old Maps of 1876-1880, labelled as "Methodist Chapel (United Free)", but not on the later series of 1899-1900.

As it was not built until after 1857, it is not mentioned in White's Directory of that year. White does however mention a small chapel for Wesleyan Reformers at Matlock Bridge. Although no link has been discovered, it would be satisfying to think the members of that congregation joined forces with Smedley's Chapel, after it was built, since no references have been found to a Wesleyan Reform congregation after the later edition of White's Directory of 1862, when in that year - "Independents, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyan Reformers, have each Chapels in the parish". [White's Gazetteer and General Directory of "Sheffield and 20 miles round", 1862]

Denomination

Now or formerly Free 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 SK2991460736. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• John Smedley's Church (Demolished), Matlock shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Matlock 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 Matlock, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• “The Andrews Pages”, featuring Ann Andrews' collection of Eighteenth & Nineteenth Century Images of Matlock and Matlock Bath (null) (verified 2021-09-12)

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.