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

Congregational Chapel (Demolished),
High Street,
Stonehouse, 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 1809, but we understand it was closed in 1964.

The position of this Chapel is shown on Old Maps, for example OS 1902 1:2,500. Kelly's Directory of 1923 records that it was built in 1820, and had seating for 450. Old Maps also show that it had a graveyard, backing onto what is now Laburnum Walk. The plot it occupied appears to be still in existence.

Additional information is available on the webpageStonehouse - A Timeline - One Thousand Years, on the website of Stonehouse History Group. Their site records that the chapel was built in 1827 (not 1820), was closed in 1964, then demolished in 1967, as a consequence of its destruction by fire. The site also has a photograph, showing its "Jubilee Arch", which commemorated the chapel's golden jubilee.

The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 10: Westbury and Whitstone Hundreds (1972), pp.287-288 (Stonehouse - Nonconformity) provides evidence of an earlier congregation. It records that a group of Congregationalists associated with the chapel at Ebley met from 1802 at a house at Haywardsend, then from 1809 in a malt-house at Stonehouse, until a dedicated chapel was built in in 1811. This was replaced by another building on the west side of the High Street in 1823, which was in turn was replaced by the aforementioned building in 1827 "on a near-by site, a stone building in classical style". The yard adjoining it was used for burials from 1833 or earlier.

In 1851, about one quarter of its members were workers in the cloth industry. [Glos. Archives D 2144/1]

One of the earlier chapels, converted into cottages, survived until 1933.

Denomination

Now or formerly Congregational.

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 SO8053505314. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Congregational Chapel (Demolished), Stonehouse shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Stonehouse 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 Stonehouse, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• “Promoting interest in the local history of Stonehouse in all its aspects and through all periods”… of history - Stonehouse History Group (null) (verified 2018-11-14)
• The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 10: Westbury and Whitstone 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.