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Pillowell Methodist Church,
Upper Road,
Pillowell, Parkend, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Church does 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 1823, and we understand it is still open.

At the time of the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/577/1/5/22) this was described as "Pillowell Chapel", in the Township of West Dean. It was said to have been built in 1835, was a separate building, used exclusively as a place of worship, and had 24*6 = 144 sittings (all free). The estimated number of worshippers on March 30, 1851 was 90 to afternoon service, 124 in the evening, with 78 Sunday Scholars in the morning, and 50 in the afternoon. The return was completed by Samuel Jordan, a Local Preacher who lived at "Yorkley near Lydney".

The building is of stone, with a steeply-sloping roof. There are two pointed arched windows at either side of a central bay, in which there is a doorway, with two small windows either side. Above this is a three-light venetian-style window, again with pointed arches. The whole is embellished with lighter bands of brickwork over the windows, above the doorway, and just below the apex. The sides are of 5 bays, and there is a basement, built below road level, but visible from one side, emphasising the steepness of the hillside on which it is situated.

Another band of stone above the doorway is carved with the legend "Primitive Methodist Church 1885", so this is clearly not the original chapel. According to the Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp.396-404 (Forest of Dean - Nonconformity), the original, which was known as Jubilee Chapel, was to the north-east of the present building, and was sold in 1892 to the Pillowell and Yorkley co-operative society, and in 1990 was in use as dwellings.

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 is located at OS grid reference SO6302606651. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

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

• The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (null) (verified 2018-11-06)

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.