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

United Methodist Church (Demolished),
Mansfield Road,
Creswell, Elmton, 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 1896, but we understand it was closed by 1961.

The location of this "Free United", and later "United Methodist" Church can be seen on Old Maps from 1899 through to 1961. The next available Map providing sufficient detail, dated 1983, shows the building had become a "depot", but it appears that this been demolished, and (as of Google StreetView 2009) the site cleared.

Kelly's Directory of 1912 records 3 Methodist Chapels in Creswell - a Wesleyan Methodist, erected in 1904, and a Primitive Methodist, erected in 1908, which are described elsewhere in this database; and a United Methodist, which is described as having 500 seats. Unfortunately, it does not say when it was built, but thanks to a Photographic Survey of the building, undertaken in 2008, and available on the Archaeology Data Services website, this is known to have been 1896/1897.

It may have been predated by "Creswell Chapel", described on the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/436/4/4/12) as erected "about 1835" for a Wesleyan Methodist Association congregation. The majority of the Wesleyan Association Churches would, of course, have joined the United Methodist Free Churches in 1857.

The London Gazette has two separate notices of the registration for marriages of a "Methodist Free Church, situated at Cresswell", published 4th December 1896 (p.7177), and 19th December 1902 (p.8772).

The second notice may relate to an extension to the building documented in the photographic Record as taking place "at an unknown date between 1897 and 1908".

The report also tells us the building was taken over in 1961 by Velvetone Ltd, who used the chapel space for oil blending and storage; also mentioned are future plans for the site, following the Chapel's demolition.

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 SK5275874328. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

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

• The officially accredited archive of heritage data - Archaeology Data Services (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.