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In
Leicester in
Leicestershire, UK there been have been numerous
places of worship of various denominations, including the
Congregational church.[1][2][3] The first Congregationalist church in Leceister was founded 1801. Numerous others were built in the 19th century.[4] Many closed in the 20th century following the formation of union churches and declining congregations.[5]
Dumbleton Avenue (now Christchurch United Reformed Church)[7][3]
East Bond Street, Great Meeting (now Unitarian) (formerly a united Congregational and Presbyterian meeting)
Elmdale Street, Belgrave, Belgrave Union (a Nonconformist union church, formerly with Baptist and Congregational affiliations, now with Baptist and United Reformed Church affiliations)
Hinckley Road, (now Westcotes United Reformed Church)[3]
Linden Street, North Evington Free Church (formerly affiliated to Congregational Union, but now identifying itself as Baptist)
College Street, acquired from the Collegiate School in 1866. The original Gothic building, erected in 1835, was bought by the Leicester Education Committee in 1954.[4]
Collegiate Church (Congregational) (part of the old Collegiate School)
A Brief History of Free Churches in Leicestershire & Rutland, Rev A A Betteridge
Leicester Congregationalism, 1800-1910, H T Chambers (1910)
Those Taking Part 1802-1952: A brief history of Bond Street Congregational Church Leicester, E M Drew (1951)
Abbots Road United Reformed Church: The First Fifty Years, Eric A Hanson (1979)
The Story of Our Churches 1662-1962, Leicester & Rutland Congregational Union (1962)
Centenary of the London Road Congregational Church, Leicester 1857-1957, W Orr (1957)
Gallowtree Gate Congregational Chapel Leicester 1823-1921, Gerald T Rimmington (1999)
Baptist churches
Central Baptist Church, Charles Street (1830)
In
Leicester in
Leicestershire, UK there been have been numerous
places of worship of various denominations, including the
Baptists.[12][2][13] The first congregation of Baptists in Leceister was founded 1651. Numerous chapels were built subsequently, many in the 19th century.[14][4] Leicester in that period was called the ‘Metropolis of Dissent’ with a large number of
non-conformist chapels and churches, among them Baptist.[15] One of the grandest was the "Pork Pie Chapel" (the Belvoir Street Chapel) built in 1845 to a design by
Joseph Hansom.[16]
As of 2008, there were 13 active Baptist churches in the city.[17]
The following is a list of Baptist church buildings in the city, both closed and open, the several of which are Grade II
listed buildings. [18]
Open churches
Stoneygate Baptist Church, London Road (1914)Baptist North Evington Free Church, Linden Street
^
abcdefghijklmno"The ancient borough: Protestant Nonconformity: A History of the County of Leicester: Volume 4". Victoria County History. 1958. pp. 390–394. Retrieved January 11, 2020. The Congregational chapel in Bond Street was founded in 1800, partly by a secession of those members of the Great Meeting who did not welcome the advance towards Unitarianism being made by the meeting at that time. Their first chapel was in Granby Street, on the site of the subsequent Charles Street Baptist school. This chapel was purchased in 1801 from the Kilhamites or New Connexion Methodists. The Bond Street chapel was built in 1803 and enlarged in 1821 and 1864. A second chapel in Gallowtree Gate was built in 1823 and underwent considerable alterations during the last century before it was closed in 1921, together with the attached Sunday school. The building was demolished in 1927. Chapel Yard, on the West side of the street, is the only surviving indication of its existence. A Congregational chapel in London Road was built in 1858; one in Oxford Street, replacing an earlier building of about 1815, was built in 1863; one in Willow Street was opened about 1873 and closed about 1936; and the Union church in Humberstone Road at the corner of Newby Street was built in 1880. The Wycliffe church in College Street was acquired from the Collegiate School in 1866: the original Gothic building, erected in 1835, was designed by a Sheffield architect named Weightman or Whiteman. The church was bought by the Leicester Education Committee in 1954, but in 1955 was still used for services on Sundays.Cite error: The named reference "hist1958" was defined multiple times with different content (see the
help page).
^
abcdefElliott, Malcolm.
"Belief and Disbelief in Victorian Leicester"(PDF). Retrieved January 13, 2020. Clearly the Baptists in Leicester were unusually strong...Divisions among the Baptists of Friar Lane had led to the establishment of chapels at Archdeacon Lane (1794) and Dover Street (1823); while Charles Street was built in 1830 and the Pork Pie chapel in Belvoir Street in 1845. Later in the century the Baptists built Victoria Road church...and half a dozen other places of worship in various parts of the town.
^
ab"Belvoir Street Chapel". City of Leicester. Retrieved January 14, 2020. Affectionately known as the "Pork Pie Chapel", Belvoir Street Chapel was designed by Joseph Hansom, inventor of the horse–drawn cab. Built in 1845 to accommodate a growing Baptist congregation, it was designed for up to 1,500 people and included lecture and schoolrooms. Its circular interior was lit by gas, presenting a "brilliant appearance"...Special trains brought people to its inauguration in 1845
^"The Diversity of Leicester A Demographic Profile"(PDF). City of Leicester City Council. 2008. p. 6. Retrieved January 16, 2020. ...there are 37 Churches of England, 15 Roman Catholic, and 69 non-conformist churches, 19 Evangelical, 15 Pentecostal, 13 Baptist, 11 Methodist and 11 United Reform churches. In addition there are also a growing number of black ledchurches. There are 2 Jewish synagogues in the city...Within the city there are 26 Sunni mosques, 2 Shia mosques,22 Hindu temples, 7 Sikh Gurdwaras and 1 Jain temple.
^
abcdefghij"Baptists". The ancient borough: Protestant Nonconformity: A History of the County of Leicester: Volume 4. Victoria County History. 1958. pp. 390–394. Retrieved January 11, 2020. Both General and Particular Baptists founded many other chapels in Leicester and from the 17th to the 19th centuries they formed the largest body of dissenters in the borough. In St. Leonard's parish, the chapel in Abbey Gate was opened as a mission in 1882. There were once four chapels in All Saints' parish: Burgess Street (before 1843, probably closed by 1848), Vine Street (before 1843, sold to the Primitive Methodists in 1861), Soar Lane, a branch of Archdeacon Lane (before 1843, being used by the Quakers in 1848), and the Strict Baptist chapel in St. Peter's Lane, known as the Ebenezer chapel and built in 1803. In St. Mary's parish the former 'Christian' chapel in Newarke Street, built in 1835, was taken over by the Baptists and was destroyed in an air raid in November 1940. The large Victoria Baptist church at the corner of London and University Roads was built in 1867 at a time when the suburban development was proceeding apace. The Robert Hall Memorial chapel was built by the architect Walter Brand in 1901. The chapel in Thorpe Street was founded in 1868, as a branch of the Charles Street chapel, but was never regularly served, and by 1877 had become a Sunday school. The chapel itself had been built for another purpose in 1854. In St. Margaret's parish the oldest chapel is that in Upper Charles Street, built in 1830 and united with the Belvoir Street chapel to form the United Baptist chapel in 1938...Other chapels are those in Melton Street (from about 1860 to about 1870), Navigation Street (also in existence about 1864–70), Trinity chapel in Alfred Street (built by a Mr. Harrison in 1840 and closed about 1890), Erskine Street (built for a congregation from Alfred Street in 1873), the Tabernacle in Belgrave Gate (1869, closed 1921), and Carey Hall in Catherine Street (1897, designed by A. E. Sawday). The Archdeacon Lane Memorial church was opened in Buckminster Road in 1939. A new Baptist church was being built in 1955 for the Stocking Farm Estate. The Evangelical Free Church, Melbourne Hall, was built in 1881 for the ministry of the Revd. F. B. Meyer...Melbourne Hall was designed by Joseph Goddard
^"The ancient borough: Protestant Nonconformity: A History of the County of Leicester: Volume 4". Victoria County History. 1958. pp. 390–394. Retrieved January 11, 2020. The chapel in Harvey Lane, belonging to the Particular Baptists, is especially associated with the names of William Carey (1761–1834), the founder of the Baptist Missionary Society and its first missionary, and of Robert Hall (1764–1831), the noted preacher. The date of the foundation of Harvey Lane chapel is unknown, but it was probably in existence from about 1750, when a sect of Particular Baptists retired from the Friar Lane chapel. (fn. 23) After the erection of the chapel in Belvoir Street, this chapel, never a very large one, was used as a school and a mission chapel, and in 1863 it was rented from the Baptists by a congregation of Independents. It was reopened by the Baptists in the following year. The chapel was destroyed by fire in 1921, having again recently been made into a mission chapel, this time for the Victoria Baptist church. The work there was abandoned in 1932. The chapel had been rebuilt as a Memorial Hall in 1924, (fn. 24) but was sold and in 1955 was being used as offices. William Carey's cottage stands opposite the former chapel.