Belper Research Website: Churches, Chapels & Religious Buildings

Some Belper Churches, Chapels & Religious Buildings

Updated: Tuesday, November 5, 2013 | Belper Historical & Genealogical Website

This page is a slideshow of the various churches, chapels and other places of religious worship in Belper. Please accept "ActiveX" in your browser to make this work properly. (Accept blocked content.)

There are a few chapels and churches from villages near to Belper, too. In many cases, if you click on the photo it will take you to that church's website, or give you more information.

There is an additional page about St. Swithun's Church to be found HERE.

Also see the Memorial Records (here) because each page contains photos and information about the relevant church.

Here is Christ Church on Bridge Street, and its Rectory alongside. The tradition here is 'high'. The church was built in 1850 to a design by Architect H J Stevens of Derby, and it is a large, aisleless hall without architectural division at the chancel or sanctuary. Its superb acoustics and open layout make it a popular venue for musical concerts. It has Victorian stained glass and a wrought and cast iron rood screen. Memorials include a brass plaque to George Herbert Strutt

Parish Church of St Peter, Chesterfield Road and Church Lane. This large, Gothic Commissioners Church, built in 1824 to replace the old St John's Chapel, enjoys a commanding hillside position. Tree-lined avenues lead through the churchyard towards the tall, slender tower (now unfortunately shorn of its pinnacle tops) which is a prominent landmark on the Belper skyline. With a wide, rectangular nave, shallow sanctuary and large gallery at back and sides, the building remains structurally unaltered. In the west gallery stands the historic 3-manual organ by Holt (1853, enlarged 1873 and recently restored)

This early postcard of St Peters Anglican Church shows the 'new' church in its original splendour with its four pinnacles.

The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour serves the Roman Catholic worshippers of Belper. It is on Gibfield Lane. Kelly's Directory of 1932 tells us that a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour was built in 1919 and has seatings for 150.

St John The Baptist Church was built as a small chapel in the 13th century mediaeval hamlet of Belper. It is a simple stone building set in a tranquil corner of Belper, and dates from around 1250. It was built by William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, the lord of various manors including Belper. He also owned castles at Tutbury and Duffield. When it was first built the Chapel was a plain rectangle with no vestry, porch or bell-cote. In 1634 the porch was built, the stone lintel still bearing the date and churchwarden's initials. The bell-cote was added in 1699. The Chapel became almost a parish church, with baptisms from 1783 and burials from 1793. A wooden gallery was built in 1806 at the west end of the nave; a vestry was added about the same time. Further changes and extensions to the Chapel were precluded by the building of St Peter's Church as the main Anglican church in 1824. The old Chapel was restored in 1870's. The gallery was removed and the window openings rebuilt to their original shape. Care has been taken to restore the pristine building as far as possible. The original piscina and sedilia remain in the chancel, and an unusual altar. The mediaeval priests' door also still exists. Today the building is not used for religious ceremonies, and burials are no longer permitted. Council meetings and various historical and community meetings take place in the Chapel

The entrance gate to St John's chapel.

St. Swithun's Anglican Church on Holbrook Road is part of St Peter's Parish.

St Mark's Anglican Church at Over Lane Openwoodgate, Belper, was founded in 1891. Kelly's Directory of 1895 tells us that St Mark's was a Mission Church of St Peter, erected in 1891, with seats for 250.

The Congregational Church on Green Lane, Belper. The Church group began meeting in 1788 in the former Unitarian Chapel and later obtained land to build its own small chapel in 1799. Subsequently this fine larger church was erected, designed by architect George Woodhouse of Bolton. It was opened in 1872 at a cost of £5,000. It included a separate Sunday School built from the material of the original chapel. The current Congregational Church is now behind this building, built on the site of the old Sunday School, which is probably where the first chapel stood.

This lovely old postcard shows the Congregational Church when it was first built.

The Wesleyan Chapel, built in 1807 and now known as the Central Methodist Church, is the oldest currently used place of orthodox Christian worship in Belper. The building is set back from the A6 in its own large graveyard, now a pleasant garden. When first built the chapel was described as 'the wonder of the country for many miles around' on account of its great size. It is now a listed building. The congregation grew out of the first smaller chapel (see next slide). The new building, which was opened on June 28th 1807, cost £3000 to build and it could accommodate 1400 worshippers. It was an ambitious project which used mill props to hold up the horseshoe shaped gallery which was pewed. The ground floor had forms for the use of the large Sunday School. The Pulpit was high up on the west wall and below it was a large “singing pew” for a choir and band. A school room was added at the rear in 1841 and in 1873 the ground floor was pewed, the large Victorian pulpit erected, a new organ added and the present porch built.

In 1782 a local farmer from Shottle, Thomas Slater, later known as Parson Slater, gave land for a chapel to be built at Belper on a site now known as The Cottage on Chapel Street. It is said that John Wesley himself visited and preached here. There is little evidence for this visit but it is known that Wesley visited the congregation again in 1786 and preached in the town. Within 25 years the building was too small for the rapidly growing congregation and work began on constructing a larger church on the adjoining land. This cottage is now used by the Belper Cottage Project.

Tucked away out of sight up an alleyway off Bridge Street is this former Baptist Chapel. The Baptist cause at Belper was introduced in 1817 by the friends at Duffield, and continued as a branch of Duffield until 1823. The meetings were held in a room at the George and Dragon on Bridge Street and on August 24th 1817 it was opened for public worship by Brother Ingram, who acted as their minister. An appeal for a Chapel and Burying Ground at Belper was launched the next year and Mr Hardy gave land for the chapel seen here, built in 1819. It is now a Guest House.

This is the current Baptist Church of Belper, on Bridge Street nearly opposite the site of the older chapel. In the early 1890s a need was felt among members for a more desirable building in a better situation, and land was purchased on the opposite side of Bridge Street. The older church was retained and used as a school hall but this became inadequate, and the church under the ministry of Rev AJ Roberts who came from County Durham in April 1962 decided to do a structural alteration in the church by putting a floor over the gallery, thereby creating a new church hall; a new heating and lighting system was installed at the same time and the ground floor sanctuary redecorated.

This Cemetery on Matlock Road (A6) was founded in 1859, and is still open. It was consecrated on 16th June 1859 on a plot of land the bulk of which was purchased from the Strutt family for £120 per acre

This former Convent of St Laurence is now a housing complex. The Protestant order of St Laurence sisterhood was established in Belper in 1877 and Field Lane Convent was built circa 1884 on land purchased from the Strutts, with Father E.A. Hillyard, the Christchurch vicar, and Ellen Lee the foundress offered guidance.

The chapel inside the Convent was quite ornate in the 1930's when this photo was taken. It later became much more simple.

An early photo of the convent has two other churches in the background: on the left is the spire of the Congregational Church, and to the right is the pinnacled tower of St. Peter's.

The Presbytarians sprang out of the Dissenting religious groups of the 17th century, and later became Unitarians. An early chapel at the bottom of Green Lane was originally used for worship in Belper, but with the arrival of Jedediah Strutt and the building of the mills in Belper, things took an altogether new turn. An impressive new stone chapel had been erected by 1789, this time a lot further out of town. It was situated right in the middle of the block of houses Strutt was erecting for his mills workers and their families, and was extended several times to include vaulted graves and a graveyard. It is still used today.

Here is the earlier Unitarian chapel, built in 1721 and extended upwards at a later date. When the new chapel had been built, this building continued in use as a Sunday School.

Belper Christian Centre, (Assemblies of God Pentecostal) at 16 High Street. This Church was founded after 1900, and is still open for worship. The church's website says it was founded in the early twentieth century by two brothers. The building which exists today is also the original meeting place, though it was extended in the 1990s, when land became available from the bungalow next to the church.

Here is the 'Kingdom Hall' of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Belper. It is located in Strutt Street, and was the former Post Office.

The Salvation Army has been in Belper since 1932, and its founder William Booth was a local man. The brick building stands on the Marketplace of Belper, in the space left by a demolished Inn, the Angel Inn, notorious for a murder in the early 19th century. In 2010 the Hall was closed and meetings are now held at Ripley.

This Spiritualist meeting house is on New Road, Belper. It was founded in 1887, but meetings had begun before that time. It is named Jubilee Hall, as it was built in the year of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Salem Chapel, in the grounds of St Laurence Convent on Green Lane and Field Lane. The Chapel was founded in 1856, and was demolished in 1966 at the same time as Field Head Primitive Methodist Chapel. It was built in 1856, with seating for about 700, and cost £1,000. It was a large rectangular brick building, of two stories, with a gallery round three sides, and seating made of pitch pine. Underneath the chapel were a Sunday School and classrooms.

This old building on Chapel Street Duffield (just outside Belper) is now the home of Duffield Emmanuel Christian Centre. This old Methodist Chapel had been out of commission for 40 years when Emmanuel Community bought it in 1985.

Duffield Evangelical Baptist Church is on Makeney Road,
Duffield just outside Belper.

St Alkmund's Anglican Church in Duffield, situated on the banks of the river Derwent to the south of Duffield. It dates back to the first millennium, and has a 14th century east tower with a recessed spire and a beautiful Perp east window in the chancel. The church was much restored in 1846 and again in 1896. It contains a monument to Sir Roger Mynors who died in 1539, and his wife. There is also a wall monument to Anthony Bradshaw, his wife and their 20 children. Bradshaw was a barrister and the deputy steward of Duffield Frith, a former hunting forest between Duffield and Wirksworth. St. Alkmund was the son of Alcred, who was King of Northumbria from 765 to 774, and he gained great fame by his victories over the Danes.

This is the Church of Holy Trinity, Milford. Milford was a village partly in the township of Belper and partly in the hamlet of Makeney, according to The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland, in 1868. Though recorded then as in the parish of Duffield, according to Derbyshire Record Office's record of Church of England Regsters it became a separate parish in 1848.

This Chapel is now in private ownership, and has been converted for use as a holiday cottage. Note - the holiday cottage information states the building dates from 1846; the Derbyshire Record Office's Non Conformist Register Guide says it was built in 1849, but the inscription on the stone above the doorway says ‘Ebenezer Chapel, 1859’, so whilst it is possible the building may predate it, the Chapel apparently didn't open until then.

Pottery Chapel, Kilbourne Road. This Chapel was founded in 1816, though it is now closed and in a sorry state of disrepair. Mentioned in Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses, Derbyshire (1986) as built 1815, and having an adjacent Sunday School, with a date plaque of 1878. It is now a Grade I Listed Building. It was named 'Pottery' after Bourne's Pottery at Denby.

This is Zion United Methodist Free Church on Kilburne Road, Belper; also known as Openwoodgate (Zion) Methodist Church. It was founded in 1871 and is still being used for worship

Another Methodist Chapel exists at the corner of Quarry Lane with Holbrook Road, Belper. Confusingly this also seems to have been called Zion Primitive Methodist Church; it is now a private residence known as 2 Chapel Mews. This Church was founded before 1880, although the plaque on the gable is not readable. It is marked on the 1880 OS map as 'Methodist Chapel (Primitive) (Seats for 250)', and at that time stood in isolation on the corner of a road named 'Back Hollow'. It is now a listed building. Kelly's Directory of 1932 records that Belper had two Primitive Methodist Chapels, one at Field Head and the other at Cow Hill. This doesn't appear to fit the description of either of them!

St Faith's Mission Church on Dalley Lane at Belper Lane End.Father Hillyard, former vicar of Christ Church, and Ellen Lee [who cooperated in the building of St Laurence Convent in Belper] acquired the land on which Saint Faith's Church stands. It was built at a cost of £304 as a Chapel of Ease to Christ Church, Belper in 1890 and has also been used as a Sunday School. It was faithfully served for many years by the Nuns of the Convent of Saint Laurence, Belper and by the Rev. Basil Wesson. In 2005 it was closed, much to the dismay of local people. The fight to prevent it becoming a house was lost, and as of March 2011 the chapel is on sale.

© Copyright 2011 Tricia Booth BACK HOME CONTACT

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