Building record MDR12643 - Former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Snitterton Road, Matlock Town

A neat Wesleyan chapel was built at Matlock bridge, in 1840, at a cost of about £300. (1) There is a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel situated here on the 1st edition OS map. (2) It appears to have been extended by the 3rd edition OS map. (3) Kelly's Directory of 1848 records that 'a neat Wesleyan chapel was built here in 1840, at a cost of £300'. Mid and late nineteenth century maps show the chapel as being on Snitterton Road, part of the way up the hill. It also shows up in both the 1861 census and the 1881 census. In 1859 the chapel was fitted with gas lamps: 'On Sunday last two sermons were preached at the above chapel - that in the morning by Mr Joseph Hodgkinson of Matlock Bath; and that in the evening by Mr Jno. Marriott of Matlock Bridge. Collections were made on the occasion towards defraying the expenses incurred in the necessary fitting required for lighting up the chapel with gas..'. The chapel was registered for solemnizing marriages on the 7th day of July, 1873. When the Wesleyan Chapel on Bank Road was certified as a place of religious worship, in September 1884, the Snitterton Road chapel was no longer used for worship, although the building was listed as the Free Methodist Chapel, Matlock Bridge a few years later [1887], after which it disappeared from the records. The Jehovah's Witnesses moved in to 31 Snitterton Road in 1975. The building had apparently been used as a laundry for a long time, but had previously been a chapel [presumably the Wesleyan Chapel above]. The Jehovah's Witnesses moved to a new building on Bank Road in 2008. Planning permission was granted in early 2008 to convert the Snitterton Road property in to flats. (4)