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North Cerney Methodist Church,
Chapel Lane,
North Cerney, Gloucestershire.

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 1881, but we understand it was closed in 2015.

North Cerney Methodist Church is set on the side of the hill, the main entrance on street level, and a basement set below it, into the side of the hill. It has a central round-arched doorway, with a square plaque above it indicating it was founded as a Primitive Methodist Chapel, with a date which appears to be 1881. Kelly's Directory of 1923 says it was built in 1891, but a "Methodist Chapel (Primitive)" is marked on OS Maps of 1883-1885, so obviously it was in place before then.

There are 2 tall round-arched windows on either side of the entrance, each of 3 lights, above which is a semi-circle of 4 radial lights, giving the building an attractive, and welcoming appearance.

The Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/340/1/12/16) records that North Cerney had a place of worship for Baptists, but its location is now unknown, as it was said to be part of another building.

I have been fortunate enough to discover that it was closed for worship in early 2015, thanks to an article "End of an era for North Cerney Methodist Church" published by the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard on 15 Feb 2015. For the record, its closure was also recorded in The London Gazette of 27th October 2016 (p.22901) in a list of buildings which "are no longer used by the congregations on whose behalf they were registered for marriages".

Denomination

Now or formerly Primitive 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 SP0225908203. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• North Cerney Methodist Church, North Cerney shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in North Cerney 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 North Cerney, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Previously published articles in Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard (null) (verified 2019-01-27)
• 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.