We have 2 Images Above Photograph(s)
Copyright of Rosemary Lockie/John Williams

Salem Baptist Chapel,
Clarence Parade,
Cheltenham, 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 1999.

The Salem Baptist Chapels in Cheltenham were founded in 1835-6 by a group of seceders from the Bethel Chapel, described as radical antinomians in the document Cheltenham Borough Archaeological Assessments, compiled as part of the Gloucestershire Extensive Urban Survey (EUS) of 1995-8. Their first meetings were held in the Clarence Gallery on Clarence Street, until - unable to find suitable premises for a new building - the congregation purchased Barrett's Riding School in Regent Street, which was refitted as a galleried chapel.

This remained in use until 1845, when a new chapel in Clarence Parade, built between 1843-4, became ready for occupancy. This is the large "Gothic" edifice shown on our photographs, which now enjoys Listed Building status. It cost £3,400 to build, £1,000 of which was donated by Mrs Gardner, and provided seating accomodation for 2000.

It is known to have been converted by 1999 into a public house known as 'Festival and Firkin', for which see Cheltenham - Current and Former Places of Worship on Stuart Flight's "Glosgen" website. The congregation had vacated the premises some time prior to that, and in 2001, a new Salem Baptist Church was opened in St George's Road.

More recently, in 2005, the Clarence Parade premises became a pub called "The Pulpit" - there is a photograph of it as such in the Church Album of The Roughwood Homepage. The sign on the door in 2011 does, however say 'revolution', so it is not known what its present usage is, though its Listed Building status should keep it safe from further development for some years to come.

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 SO9477422439. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Salem Baptist Chapel, Cheltenham shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Cheltenham 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 Cheltenham, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Part of a national programme of surveys of England's historic towns and cities - Gloucestershire Extensive Urban Survey (EUS) (null) (verified 2018-11-11)
• Stuart Flight's webpages of Cheltenham - Current and Former Places of Worship (null) (verified 2018-11-08)
• Gloucestershire Church Albums on the The Roughwood Homepage (null) (verified 2018-11-15)

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.