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Baptist Chapel,
Donnington Village,
Donnington, Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire.

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 1845, but we understand it was closed in 1956.

A Baptist Chapel in Donnington is mentioned in Kelly's Directory of 1923 as built in 1883. Its position is marked on various Old Maps, though by OS 1977 1:2,500 it is labelled as "disused".

The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 6: Slaughter hundred, and the upper divisions of Tewkesbury and Westminster hundreds (1965), pp.142-165 (Stow on the Wold) provides the further information that a preaching-room was registered in Donnington prior to this, which was in use until 1883.

At the time of the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/342/2/6/14), it was described as "a Preaching Room at Donnington" - a room in a dwelling house, erected 1845, and used exclusively for Religious Worship. There was free seating for 50, and on March 30, an estimate 40 worshippers attended afternoon service. The return was completed by Josh. Miles, its Baptist Minister.

The VCH describes the chapel which replaced it as "at the south end of the village, a small simple stone building with a stone roof", adding that in 1961 it had not been used for worship for five years. Since then it has been converted into an attractive residence known as "The Old Chapel". It is built of stone, on a rectangular plan, with two bays at the sides, and a stone porch at the front, above which is a circular window, with yellow and blue squares of glass.

Denomination

Now or formerly Baptist.

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 SP1917127917. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Baptist Chapel, Donnington, Stow on the Wold shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Stow on the Wold 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 Donnington, Stow on the Wold, 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 6: Slaughter hundred, and the upper divisions of Tewkesbury and Westminster hundreds (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.