Default Image Place of Worship has been
Demolished.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

First Baptist Meeting Room (Demolished),
New Inn Lane,
Gloucester, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Church 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 1813, but we understand it was closed in 1821.

The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 4: The City of Gloucester (1988), pp.319-334 (Protestant Nonconformity) mentions a Baptist presence in Gloucester during the mid 1640s. Two preachers from London, invited to Gloucester by a nonconformist group led by the curate of Whaddon (believed to be the Independent John Wells) attracted converts, many who were baptised in the River Severn.

By 1674, their church was on the brink of collapse, and they appealed to Broadmead Baptist Church in Bristol to help them carry on meetings. Soon after this, however the Gloucester church was apparently dissolved, and by 1735 Baptists were attending Gloucester's Independent Chapel.

The Baptists' next appearance is recorded by Revd. Thomas Dudley Fosbrooke in his An Original History of the City of Gloucester (1819). He describes Baptists meeting in the New Inn Lane, with the Rev. Mr. Flint as Minister, citing the premises as one of eight non-conformist chapels in Gloucester at that time.

This is corroborated by the VCH, which dates the foundation of the meeting in New Inn Lane to 1813, when a group of seven Baptists, who had recently settled in Gloucester, began meeting in a room rented from a member of the group, George Box DRAYTON, a surgeon. Thomas FLINT was its first minister, but FLINT apparently resigned in 1817, as he was discouraged by small congregations. After some disagreements of policy amongst the surviving members, Drayton himself took over as minister in 1819, and in 1821 he built at chapel, at his own expense in Parker's Row (now Brunswick Road).

It is not known exactly where in New Inn Lane the premises were.

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 Church was located at OS grid reference SO833185. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• First Baptist Meeting Room (Demolished), Gloucester shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Gloucester 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 Gloucester, 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 4: The City of Gloucester (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.