[edit]
In the 2011 census, the electoral ward of Coalville had 5988 inhabitants with religious affiliation as follows: 60.1% Christian, 32.4% No religion, 0.6% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.2% Muslim, 0.1% Agnostic, 0.1% Sikh. The town has a rich and diverse history of Christian places of worship. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, numerous non-conformist chapels were established, some of which gave rise to break-away factions. Following the decline in the membership of traditional non-conformist societies, the town has seen the establishment of numerous evangelical free churches in more recent years. An official town guide, produced by the Coalville Urban District Council, circa 1968, has proved to be a useful source in chronicling the development and histories of early religious groups. The Anglican, Evangelical, Roman Catholic and 'non-conformist' churches in the district co-operate in an ecumenical alliance known as Coalville Christian Church Unity. The Jehovah's Witnesses and Spiritualist Church in the town are unconnected with this movement.
Church of England[edit]
Coalville was in earlier times divided between the parishes of Snibston and Whitwick. The parish of Christ Church, Coalville, was established in the mid-19th century. Since 1926 Coalville has been in the Diocese of Leicester; from 1539 to 1926 it was in the Diocese of Peterborough.
Parish church[edit]
Coalville Parish Church
Coalville's parish church, Christ Church on London Road, was built between 1836 and 1838. The architect was H. I. Stevens of Derby. In 1853, a chancel was added, making the building cruciform, and the church was restored between 1894 and 1895. Vestries for the clergy and choir were erected on the north side of the chancel in 1936.
The building is a plain and routine example of Early English style revival, comprising nave, transepts, chancel and western tower. The nave is fairly unusual in that its north and south aisles are not separated from the nave by arcades. The tower contains four bells, played on a clavier and has embattled parapets; access to the church is via the main west door, located in the ground floor stage of the tower. The local historian, Edgar Hawthorn, claims that construction of the church was funded by George Stephenson, though this assertion has been called into question by more recent historians.
The tower contained a single bell until 1936, when a further three bells were presented by Dr Francis E. Knowles of America. Dr Knowles had ordered these bells from the foundry of John Taylor at Loughborough, but in the meantime, the church in America was destroyed by a tornado. Through the influence of the then vicar, the Reverend W. A. J. Martyr, Dr Knowles (originally of Melbourne in Derbyshire) was persuaded to present them to Christ Church, Coalville.
The church houses a brass memorial plaque to the victims of the Whitwick Colliery Disaster (1898) and the gravestone of James Stephenson, who came here through the influence of his brother, George Stephenson, the engineer, to work as an official at the Snibston Colliery.
There is a memorial to the fallen of the parish of both World War I and II in the Lady Chapel. This is in the form of a reredos behind the chapel altar. In 1859, an Act of Parliament decreed that 'for the protection of the public health', no further burials should take place in the church yard, 'with the exception of the part of the ground on the south of the church, in which no burial shall take place, except in brick graves, in which each coffin shall be separately entombed in an air-tight manner'. The same legislation also ordered that 'burials be wholly discontinued in the General Baptist Chapel Burial-ground', which was located just a short distance away from the church, near the present day council offices.
The small churchyard contains the grave of Amos Clarke, who, although blind from the age of eight days, was organist at Christ Church for some fifty years. Following his death in 1930, he was buried on the south side of the church as near to the organ as possible – at his own request.
The longest serving vicar of Christ Church was the Reverend William Gardner, who held the living for thirty-three years. The east window was installed as a memorial to Gardner, his wife and daughter.
All Saints' Mission Church[edit]
Due to the rapid growth of the town in the 19th century, a mission church known as "All Saints'" was erected on Ashby Road in 1895, on a site given by Messrs T. and J. Jones of Coalville. This was served by the clergy of the parish church.
St Mary's, Snibston[edit]
Saint David's Church, Broom Leys
St Mary's, Snibston is an ancient parish church set in a rural location close to Coalville. The church building is notable for being very small, no longer than twenty-four feet, comprising a nave and chancel in one. The fabric is mainly medieval, though the current lancet windows were installed in 1847. The foundations of a tower were discovered in 1930. Until a Coalville parish (the Christ Church parish) was created, Snibston parish covered much of the south-westerly part of the area that is now Coalville.
St David's, Broom Leys[edit]
St David's (Church of England, founded in 1933) is in a northerly suburb of Coalville. The present building was built in the 1960s.
Baptists[edit]
Ebenezer Baptist Church (1881)
There were, at one time, three different Baptist churches within the town of Coalville – belonging to General Baptists, Strict Baptists and Particular Baptists.
The General Baptist chapel in Coalville was built on land provided by the Whitwick Colliery Company and occupied a site close to the present day council offices, at the junction of London Road and Whitwick Road. This church, which became known as the London Road Baptist Chapel, became the first permanent place of worship in Coalville when services began in 1836. Built at a cost of £560, the chapel had 600 sittings and a Sunday School attached. For many years after its demolition, the junction on which it had stood was still referred to as 'Chapel Corner'.
Following the chapel's closure, the congregation transferred to a new premises at Greenhill known as the Charnborough Road Baptist Church, which was registered for solemnising marriages on 15 March 1955. This church is still in use and is now known as the Greenhill Community Church, being affiliated to the Baptist Union.
In 1852, a society of Strict Baptists built a chapel known as "Cave Adullam" on the opposite side of the road to the General Baptist Chapel on London Road. According to local writer, Elizabeth Hewes, this was erected by William Stenson – the founder of Whitwick Colliery – who was a staunch baptist, as a more "select place of worship" for himself and his wife. Stenson lived just a very short distance away, also on the London Road, on a site which is today marked by a brass plaque. The local historian, Dennis Baker does not mention Stenson's involvement with this chapel, attributing its formation to a break-away movement from the General Baptist chapel as a result of doctrinal differences. Stenson was undoubtedly a pioneer of the Baptist mission in Coalville however, and his grave can be found in the old Baptist cemetery off Grange Road, Hugglescote.
This chapel was still flourishing in 1907, when it was redecorated, with "Strict Baptist" newly painted on the door. It was probably this chapel that was the one referred to as a "Calvinist chapel" in Kelly's Directory of 1881. Another source has it as a "Calvinistic" chapel.
The building still exists and is now occupied by the Balti Tower Indian restaurant and an oriental food store. For many years after its closure, part of the building was occupied by "Kemp's grocery store". The stone plaque, bearing the name, "Cave Adullam" can still be seen set above the frontage; this term has its origins in the Bible (I Samuel, 22:I).
In 1879, further doctrinal differences led to 149 members of the General Baptist Chapel being erased from their communion.
Seventy three of these individuals then formed themselves into a Particular Baptist Chapel and went on to build the Ebenezer Baptist Church on Ashby Road, which was completed in 1881. Whilst the church was being built, services were conducted in an old wagon repair shop. Structural alterations and additions were made to the building in 1908 and instead of two entrances to the church, one main entrance was made, as it is today. The church once played a prominent part in the musical life of the town, and it was here that the Snibston Colliery Miner's Welfare Silver Prize Band was formed.
Congregationalist (United Reformed Church)[edit]
Congregationalism would appear to have been the first Protestant non-conformist religion active in the Coalville district.
Following Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, the re-establishment of the bishops, and Parliament's attempt in 1662 to impose a single form of religious observance throughout England (the Act of Uniformity 1662), the vicar of Ravenstone (John Shuttlewood or Sittlewood) was removed from office in 1660, the vicar of Whitwick (John Bennett) was removed from office in 1662 and William Sheffield (a former rector of Ibstock, but who had moved to Stoke Golding where he was a curate) was suspended on 13 October 1662. All three became Nonconformist or Dissenting preachers. Shuttlewood and Bennett were both later imprisoned for Nonconformity.
The moated old Bardon Hall at Bardon Park became a place of Dissenting worship, and was registered as such after persecution of Dissent had eased.[citation needed] After the events known as the Glorious Revolution (1688) and the Act of Toleration 1689, the owner of Bardon Hall and Park built the Bardon Park chapel or meetinghouse at the gate of his estate, as a place for non-conforming worship.
The Bardon Park Chapel, situated about three miles (five kilometres) from Coalville, is a Grade II Listed building, widely regarded as being the oldest non-conformist place of worship in Leicestershire. Built in about 1694, the chapel was affiliated to the Congregational Union from about 1830. In 1972, the Congregationalists united nationally with the Presbyterians to form the United Reformed Church. The "Bardon Chapel" thus serves as the modern day United Reformed Church for the communities of Coalville and North West Leicestershire.
Around 1800, the then minister at the Bardon Park Chapel opened a chapel at Donington-le-Heath.[citation needed] This building was relatively short-lived and was eventually demolished. Its exact location is unknown. From the 1840s until circa 1870, the Bardon Park Chapel operated a day-school at Bardon Park, in the hall to the rear of the chapel. This school was affiliated to the British and Foreign School Society. (BFSS schools were often known as "British Schools", distinguishing them from the "National Schools" affiliated to the Church of England). A painted alphabet board on the wall of the old schoolroom at Bardon Park Chapel dates from the 1840s. [citation needed]
Around 1900, the Bardon Park Congregational Chapel became concerned that it was not sufficiently influencing the spiritual life of the town of Coalville and opened a new chapel in the town. This was "an iron building which used to stand on what is now the flower plot at the corner of Broom Leys Road and London Road" and the building was also used as a place of worship by a society of United Methodists, before they built their own church on the London Road in 1910. A house called "Hazeldine Villa", adjacent to the iron building, was the residence of the Congregationalist minister. The mission proved to be a short lived venture however, as Hazeldine and the iron chapel were sold off in 1909.
Free churches[edit]
Coalville Evangelical Church
Coalville Evangelical Church, is an independent church affiliated with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, located on Belvoir Road, having taken over from a now defunct Open Brethren congregation on the site.
‘’’Living Rock Church’’’ is an evangelical church which meets on the first Sunday of each month at Rothley House (the former Palitoy factory off Jackson Street. Their website is www.livingrock.church
The New Life Church is an evangelical free church on Margaret Street, which occupies a premises which was formerly a working men's club.
A Pentecostal church, "Full Gospel Mission", affiliated with the Elim Pentecostal Churches of Great Britain, meets in a building established in James Street in the late 1950s. It was extended and upgraded in the 1980s.
The Yesterday, Today and Forever Church is an independent evangelical church which was established in the former Salvation Army Hall on Gutteridge Street.
Jehovah's Witnesses[edit]
Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, Coalville
Jehovah's Winesses have a modern 'Kingdom Hall' on Albert Road, replacing one which formerly stood on Ashby Road. The building comprises a brick built rectangular hall, with a gabled entrance lobby on the west side, which is faced with stone ashlar and within which is a castellated brick façade containing the main door. [citation needed]
Methodism[edit]
The former Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Belvoir Road (1881)
There were, at one time, three different Methodist factions active within the town of Coalville – the Primitive Methodists, the United Methodists and the Wesleyan Methodists – and each had its own chapel. All of these societies united nationally in 1932 and their buildings became known simply as 'Methodist Churches'. The three Methodist congregations all eventually amalgamated locally and were assimilated within the church in Marlborough Square, which is the present day Coalville Methodist Church.
Another Methodist faction – the Wesleyan Reform Methodists – did not enter into the national Methodist Union of 1932 and this organisation still has an independent church on the outskirts of the town, at New Swannington (at the Whitwick end of Thornborough Road), which was built in 1906. There are also Wesleyan Reform chapels in the nearby townships of Ellistown and Ibstock.
The Primitive Methodists originally had a place of worship on Ashby Road, and also a Sunday School, in a building that later became known as the 'Snibstone Band Room'. This was used from 1832 until 1861 and was eventually sold to the Baptists and is now the site of the Ebenezer Baptist Church.
In 1861, a Primitive Methodist Church was built next to the railway crossing on Belvoir Road. This structure still exists, with lancet windows still visible at the rear of the premises as one walks along the footpath which follows the route of the old railway line. This church was in turn replaced by a new building in Marlborough Square in 1903, and which is now known as the Marlborough Square Methodist Church. This was built to seat 600 people, with school hall, vestries and classrooms.
The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel building (erected in 1881) still exists on Belvoir Road and is now used as a community resource, known as the Marlene Reid Centre, named in commemoration of Marlene Reid of Whitwick who died in 1986, and whose own disability inspired her to pioneer local voluntary services, also earning her Leicestershire's 'Woman of the Year' award in 1983.
The United Methodists had a church on London Road. This was founded in 1910 on land acquired by the United Methodist Church in Loughborough. Following the Methodist national union in 1932, the London Road Church continued to be served from Loughborough until 1943, when the chapel was transferred to the Coalville circuit and was served by a minister who lived opposite, at No. 76 London Road
. The church was once known for its lovely garden, but closed some years ago and has since been demolished, the site subsequently being used for new housing. [citation needed]
Plymouth Brethren[edit]
A congregation is recorded meeting in a room in Hugglescote in the 1880s and 1890s, and by the turn of the century in a room in Coalville. This may have been the same meeting place, as the boundaries of Coalville had been extended through the local government reforms. A permanent meeting place was built on Belvoir Road to house an "Open" Brethren congregation; named in typically utilitarian fashion as "Belvoir Road Hall". Its congregation steadily reduced during the 1960s and 70's, becoming unsustainable and eventually selling the building to Coalville Evangelical Church (see above).
Roman Catholicism[edit]
St Wilfrid's Church (1961)
The neighbouring parish of Whitwick was a focal point in the Roman Catholic revival early in the nineteenth century due to the zealous missionary work instigated by Ambrose de Lisle of Gracedieu Manor, a mission which eventually spread to encompass the new town of Coalville.
Until 1887, the small community of Catholics residing in Coalville had to travel to Whitwick to celebrate Mass. In that year, Mass was first celebrated in a private house on Ashby Road and services were subsequently held in a local dance hall and later in a theatre owned by Mr Charles Tyler. After a few years, Mr Edwin de Lisle offered to build a temporary church, entirely at his own expense, on a site on Highfield Street, which had previously been acquired by Father Matthew O'Reilly, the parish priest at Whitwick. This was an oblong building of corrugated iron.
In the year 1900, again through the generosity of Mr de Lisle, a new church was erected on the site and which was opened by Edward Bagshawe, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Nottingham in the presence of a large gathering of the general public. This church was built of simple pitch pine, though had a highly decorative interior. Later enlarged and furnished by the Reverend Joseph Degen, it was dedicated to Saint Saviour (San Salvador) under the title of the Transfiguration. The high altar in this church had formerly belonged to the reformatory school for boys, which was at one time connected with Mount Saint Bernard's Abbey and there are references to this altar in 'Household Words' by Charles Dickens.
In 1913, Coalville became a Roman Catholic parish in its own right, under the guidance of Father Joseph Degen, a local activist who championed the cause of the local mining community. Under his guidance, the Catholic community grew substantially and in 1956 a church hall was erected on Ibstock Road in Ellistown, to relieve the congestion in the church of Saint Saviour's.
In June 1961, the modern day Saint Wilfrid of York Catholic Church by Desmond Williams was built on London Road, next to the Coalville Park. The church is noted as having some architectural merit, and preserving much of its original character. The western facade of the church is clad in green Swithland slate with a carved stone statue of St Wilfrid in the gable by Michael Clark, and the side walls comprise a series of shallow curved bays with two tiers of segment-headed windows.
Another important development within the Coalville Roman Catholic community was the founding of the Convent of the Poor Clares, on Forest Road, close by the railway bridge "where the Sisters dedicate themselves to the education of the children of Saint Wilfred's Parish". The present school was opened and formally blessed by the Right Reverend Bishop McGuiness in May 1976.[verification needed] The Cistercian monastery of Mount Saint Bernard Abbey is also close to the town, on the fringe of Charnwood Forest.
Salvationist[edit]
The Salvation Army formerly had a purpose-built hall on Gutteridge Street, though due to a decline in its membership this building was recently sold off and is now used by an evangelical free church. [citation needed]
Spiritualist[edit]
There is also the Spiritualists' National Union on Bridge Road. The Bridge Road building was formerly a Unitarian chapel.
Unitarian and Free Christian[edit]
A Unitarian hall was opened on Bridge Road in September 1908 and functioned until 1946. A Spiritualist congregation subsequently took over the building. [citation needed]
