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Independent Chapel,
High Street,
St Briavels, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We don't know whether this Chapel 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 1861, but we understand it was closed after 1991.

The area surrounding St Briavels appears to have been quite well served with places of worship, both in antiquity and throughout the industrialisation of the 19th century. Old Maps show Chapel Ruins and Holy Wells; and Kelly's Directory of 1923 records a Wesleyan chapel, and 2 Congregational chapels.

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.247-271 (St Briavels) records that Independents and Congregationalists met in houses in the parish in 1824, and in the 1850s, and became permanently established in 1861, when a chapel was built on the east side of High Street.

The building is of stone, facing the High Street. There is a central pointed-arched doorway, over which is a protective hood-moulding. Above this is a 3-light lancet window. According to the VCH account, it had 25 members in 1908, and had outlying mission stations at Mork and Hudnalls. By 1991, it was under a lay pastor, and was affiliated to the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches, with morning and evening congregations of around 40 and 25 respectively.

In the present day, it has the appearance of remaining in public use, but it is not clear whether this is still as a place of worship, or as a community hall.

It also appears from Google StreetView that there may have been a small graveyard, though if so, it not marked on any Old Maps.

Denomination

Now or formerly Independent/Congregational.

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 SO5586704339. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Independent Chapel, St Briavels shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in St Briavels 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 St Briavels, 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.