Providence Baptist Chapel, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Church History

Gloucestershire Places of Worship

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Providence Baptist Chapel, Cheltenham (1) (97k)

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Providence Baptist Chapel, Cheltenham

Providence Baptist Chapel,
Naunton Parade, GL53 7NP,
Cheltenham, 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 1835, and we understand it is still open.

According to Kelly's Directory of 1923, there were four Baptist Chapels in Cheltenham, Cambray Chapel (built 1855), Salem (built 1844), Gas Green Chapel (built 1864), and this, Naunton Parade Chapel built in 1870.
It seems likely, however that "Providence" was founded earlier than this in a building nearby. A return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/344/2/1/25) exists for a Baptist congregation meeting in a separate building called "Providence Room" in Bath Terrace, which was used exclusively as a place of worship. It had free sittings for 100 and an average of 50 worshippers attending morning service. The return was completed by John Smith, its Deacon, who lived at "No 1 Bath Road, Cheltenham".
An Historical Gazetteer of Cheltenham says it was Strict Baptist.
In more recent years, 'Providence' has adopted a more Evangelical flavour. Its inclusion on the GraceNet UK website over the years has indicated a "Reformed Evangelical" organisation, and indeed this may be appropriate in more ways than one, since Providence Baptist Chapel's own website indicates it subscribes to "what is commonly described as Reformed Theology".

Denomination

Now or formerly Strict 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 is located at OS grid reference SO9473221164. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

Providence 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.

Find the information referred to via the search interface to An Historical Gazetteer of Cheltenham (null) (verified 2018-11-11)
“The Internet home for any UK-based Reformed Evangelical Christian organisations and churches” - GraceNet UK (null) (verified 2018-11-17)
You may want to visit Providence Baptist Chapel website for present-day information.

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 25 Jan 2019 at 15:02.

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Further Information

This site provides historical information about churches, other places of worship and cemeteries. It has no affiliation with the churches or congregations themselves, nor is it intended to provide a means to find places of worship in the present day.

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This Report was created 24 Dec 2024 - 16:06:57 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/GLS671.php

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