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Friends Meeting House,
Chapel Street, DE45 1JJ (west side),
Monyash, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

This Church had 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 1697, but we understand it was closed in 1892.

During the eighteenth century, Monyash was an important centre for the Quaker Movement. John Gratton, one of the "movers and shakers" in early Quakerism was born nearby, and left his house for the building of the village's first Quaker Chapel.

The first Chapel was erected in 1697, but it was superseded by the present building, which dates from 1771. The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/449/1/15/26) for a Meeting House of the Society of Friends in "Monyash, Parish of Bakewell", simply refers to it as a separate building, erected before 1800, and used exclusively as a place of worship. The "Admeasurement in Superficial Feet" was stated to be 348 on the floor, and 180 in the Galleries, resulting in an estimated seating capacity of 65 and 25 respectively. There were an estimated 21 attendees on March 30th at a morning meeting only; and the return was completed by John Bowman, of Monyash.

Thus it would seem that the congregation was in decline; and in fact the booklet Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses, Derbyshire (1986) records that it was closed for worship in 1892, and in 1969 converted for social purposes. The interior (24½ft by 15¼ft) has a gallery at the west end with sliding shutters and a fireplace in the west wall. The stand at the east end was removed in 1969 but has been retained "loose" in an outbuilding. It has an open front with plain flat balusters. The Burial Ground to the west has a few uniform headstones of late 19th century and after.

Denomination

Now or formerly Quaker.

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 SK1499166702. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Friends Meeting House, Monyash shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Monyash 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)