Christ Church LEP (previously Shortwood Chapel), Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, Church History

Gloucestershire Places of Worship

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Christ Church LEP (previously Shortwood Chapel), Nailsworth (1) (79k)

Christ Church LEP (previously Shortwood Chapel), Nailsworth (2) (98k)

Above Photograph(s)
Copyright of John Williams

Christ Church LEP (previously Shortwood Chapel), Nailsworth

Christ Church LEP (previously Shortwood Chapel),
Newmarket Road, GL6 0DQ,
Nailsworth, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Chapel 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 1881, and we understand it is still open.

The congregation of the "Shortwood Baptist Chapel" was founded by seceders from Forest Green Chapel in about 1705, with the first permanent meeting-house being built in Shortwood in 1714-15. A rebuilding on the same site took place in 1837, but by 1881 a new site was acquired nearer to the centre of Nailsworth, and the present building in Newmarket Road, was erected. The name of Shortwood Chapel, and tradition of Baptist worship was however retained until more recent times.
According to Kelly's Directory of 1923, the building has seating for 700. It is of two storeys with a large pedimented gable at the front, which has three bays, and a centre entrance, framed by a large arch. There are 3 windows above, on the first floor. The middle one has "sub-Venetian tracery", and is framed by a matching large arch, which extends upwards into the pediment. A Tablet to left of entrance is inscribed with Chapel's history, dating from 1716 in Shortwood.
At the time I prepared this account (2014), and possibly into the present day, it is better known as Christ Church LEP ("Local Ecumenical Partnership"), and has earned the status of Grade II Listed Building - see the British Listed Buildings website for details. This change of name may have taken place in 1967, when the congregation were joined by those of the Forest Green Congregational, and Nailsworth Methodist Churches, for whom a choice of Communion Service is available - Methodist style, United Reformed Church, or Baptist. More details may be available on the Find-a-Church website.
Other sources of information, cited in Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses, Gloucestershire (1986) are F. Thompson-Smythe's Chronicles of Shortwood (1916), and Ivimey IV (1830) 469-80. The former Nailsworth Methodist Church hasn't been located, though the Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 11: Bisley and Longtree Hundreds (1976), pp.215-216 (Nailsworth - Churches) states that Wesleyans bought the old Tabernacle chapel in Bristol Road, using it until 1947 when they moved to a hall at Spring Hill, which they were still using in 1973.
The same source records that the Plymouth Brethren built a room at Spring Hill in 1841, "drawing some of their number from the Baptist church; there were congregations of 40-50 in 1851" but their meetings ceased in the 1930s. This room hasn't been located on Old Maps, nor in the present day.

Denomination

Now or formerly Ecumenical.

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 is located at OS grid reference ST8468299500. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

Christ Church LEP (previously Shortwood Chapel), Nailsworth shown on a Google Map.
Places of Worship in Nailsworth 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 Nailsworth, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

Learn more about Buildings of special or historical interest on the British Listed Buildings (null) (verified 2018-09-19)
A multi-denominational UK Church Directory - Find-a-Church (null) (verified 2018-11-16)
The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 11: Bisley and Longtree 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.

Information last updated on 16 Nov 2018 at 14:14.

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Further Information

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This Report was created 22 Dec 2024 - 14:28:04 GMT from information held in the Gloucestershire section of the Places of Worship Database. This was last updated on 13 Oct 2021 at 14:13.

URL of this page: https://churchdb.gukutils.org.uk/GLS445.php

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