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Unitarian Chapel,
Smithy Hill / Charlotte Lane,
Bradwell, 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 1695, but we understand it was closed before 1968.

The Unitarian Chapel in Bradwell is one of the meeting houses built for William Bagshawe, the 'Apostle of the Peak', after he was ejected as Vicar of Glossop, in 1662. "The old building, which with its walls a yard thick, appears as if intended to last a thousand years", though that did not prevent its demolition by a "Popish mob from Hope, who smashed the windows, pulpit and seats to pieces, and left the building in ruins", in 1715. It was rebuilt, but then later that century destroyed by fire. The present building dates from 1754 and may stand on the original site.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/449/3/16/3) for the "Unitarian Chapel" on "Smithy Hill, Bradwell, Parish of Hope" describes a separate building, used exclusively as a place of worship, but the space for when it was erected is left blank. There is no account of how many seats it had, but all of them were free. The usual number of attendants on the Sabbath was 25 in the evening. There was no Sunday school. The return, like that for Stoney Middleton Unitarian Chapel, was completed by Josiah Payne, the Registrar for the district of "Tideswell, Derbyshire".

Bagshawe also founded other Presbyterian communities in the Peak District, besides Bradwell and Stoney Middleton, notably at Great Hucklow, Charlesworth, Ashford, Chelmorton, and elsewhere. The Chapel founded by him at Hucklow is the only one to the best of my knowledge which is still used as a place of worship. His building in Bradwell is now (2010) a scout headquarters. [Sources: Bradwell in the Peak website, and A History of Derbyshire, Turbutt, 1996 p.1153]

Denomination

Now or formerly Presbyterian/Unitarian.

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 SK1711681159. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Unitarian Chapel, Bradwell shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Bradwell 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 Bradwell, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The Bradwell Village Website is now the best place to find information for Bradwell in the Peak (null) (verified 2018-10-03)

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.