The Churches of Britain and Ireland

  Ashbourne, Derbyshire

Ashbourne on Wikipedia.
 

All Saints (R.C.) on Belle Vue Road. SK 1772 4665. © Steve Bulman (2018). Interior view, © Mike Berrell (2015). Link. Although the church isn't listed, the gate piers etc., are, as grade II.

The Baptist Church meets in the Empire Ballroom on King Edward Street. Another view. SK 1791 4644. © Mike Berrell (2015). They have evidently now moved, as their current (2021) website says they now meet in St. John's.

Christian Fellowship meets at St. John's Church Hall on Auction Close. SK 1805 4698. © Mike Berrell (2015).

Elim Pentecostal Church (2011) meets in the Waterside Centre on Waterside Road. SK 1741 4593. © Mike Berrell (2015). Link.

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses on School Lane. SK 1780 4635. © Mike Berrell (2015).

Methodist Church (1880) on Church Street. Older maps label it as Wesleyan. SK 1785 4656. © James Murray. The date-stone in the gable is rather handsome. © Mike Berrell (2015). Two interior views - 1, 2, both © Mike Berrell (2015). Link. News story. Grade II listed.

A Mission Hall shows on the 25" O.S. map of 1900 on South Street at SK 1803 4629. It's identified here as Gospel Mission Hall of 1888, later Elim Church. As Elim it was seen by Streetview in 2011, but it has since been demolished and replaced by housing, seen in 2023.

A Primitive Methodist Chapel is shown on older maps on Station Street at SK 1798 4634. This source (which has a photo of the chapel), calls it Beulah, and dates it to 1894-1965. Now demolished, its site has had a short block of terraced housing built on it (2023 Streetview). The same source mentions its mid-19th century predecessor (Ebenezer), on Dove House Green. There's a photo of this chapel too. It shows on a map of 1885, but it's not clear which building the label should be applied to. My best guess is that it stood on the west side of the road at SK 1782 4675. If I'm correct then the building on the site today can be seen here in a Streetview from 2023. The same source mentions an even earlier P.M. chapel of 1832, but supplies no further details.

St. John the Baptist on Buxton Road. SK 1801 4696. © Steve Bulman. Two interior views - 1, 2, both © Mike Berrell (2015). Link. Grade II* listed, wherein it's dated to 1871.

St. Oswald on Church Street. SK 1762 4644. From an old postcard in Steve Bulman's Collection. A modern view, © James Murray. Interior view, © Aidan McRae Thomson. Another view, and two interiors - 1, 2, all © Mike Berrell (2015). The list of vicars commences in 1200. © Mike Berrell (2015). A marble tomb, from an old postcard in Christopher Skottowe's Collection. Link. Grade I listed. For other listed features associated with the church, see here.

The former Sion Congregational Chapel (thanks to Janet Gimber for the identification) on Derby Road. Now "The Chantry", the building beside it has a sign saying "Congregational School". This source says it was originally a Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion Chapel. SK 1813 4630. © James Murray. Its grade II listing says it was later U.R.C.

A map of 1900 show s a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on Park Road at SK 1822 4652. It's dated here to 1822, disused by 1895. Since demolished, it was centred on the gap between these buildings, seen by Streetview in 2023.

Although previously listed as a possible former church, Janet Gimber has advised that this was built as St. John's Hall (named after St. John's Street, on which it stands), and has never been a church. Circa SK 181 467. However, more recently Rosemary Lockie has been in touch, passing on the fruits of her researches into this building. Less importantly, she advises that this building was used by the Jehovah's Witnesses from circa 1994 - 2007. More significant is that it was built in 1858 as St. John's Free Congregational Church, and only later called St. John's Hall once the Congregationalists left to join with Sion Chapel on Derby Road. She also passes on some information from a booklet called "Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses" which says that the C19 build was the addition of a frontage to an even older building, originally a Presbyterian Chapel, and later a Countess of Huntingdon Methodist Connexion Chapel. Rosemary is not wholly convinced by this - and would welcome confirmation or refutation of any of this complicated history. © Steve Bulman.

 

 

 
 

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28 April 2024

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