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Leigh Chapel,
Tewkesbury Road, GL19 4BE,
Coombe Hill, Leigh, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

This Chapel had 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 1888, though it is now closed, but we don't yet know when.

Kelly's Directory of 1923 describes two places of worship at Coombe Hill (parish of Leigh) - a Mission Church, erected in 1890, of wood and granolith, with seating for 90, and a Wesleyan Chapel, built 1887. It is assumed the brick-built building at this location is the former Wesleyan Chapel, and indeed it is shown on various Old Maps as such.

Thus it is probably the building listed in Places recorded by the Registrar General under the provisions of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 (2010) as "Leigh Chapel", and registered as belonging to the Methodist Church.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 20th April 1888 (p.2270) recorded its registration for marriages:

NOTICE is hereby given, that a separate building, named the Leigh Wesleyan Chapel, situate at Coombe Hill, in the parish of Leigh, in the county of Gloucester, in the district of Tewkesbury, being a building certified according to law as a place of religious worship, was, on the 6th day of April, 1888, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act of 6th and 7th Wm. 4, cap. 85. Dated 10th April 1888.

Although there is no sign of a burial ground today, funerals of one family, researched independently, were recorded in newspapers dated 1913, 1938 and 1946, and a survey of the Burial Ground was undertaken by Gloucestershire History Society in 1988.

It is now however closed, and in private ownership, with the name "Chapelmead".

Denomination

Now or formerly Wesleyan Methodist.

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 SO8886927262. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Leigh Chapel, Coombe Hill, Leigh shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Leigh 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 Coombe Hill, Leigh, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Places recorded by the Registrar General under the provisions of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 (2010) is available as a "Freedom of Information" document on the website What Do They Know. (verified 2018-10-14)
• Notices of Civil Registration of Places of Worship for marriages are published in the London edition of The Gazette. Hint: search for registrations from 1998 by choosing 'Church' notices, and the option 'Registration for solemnising marriage'. (verified 2018-12-11)

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.