Bardon Park Chapel facts for kids

Bardon Park Chapel is a very old Christian building in Bardon, Leicestershire, England. It's located near the A511 road, between the towns of Coalville and Markfield. When it was built, it was in a medieval deer park, which was like a big private hunting ground.

The chapel is a Grade II Listed building. This means it's a special building, protected by law because of its history. It might be the oldest 'Nonconformist' church in its area. Nonconformists were Protestants who didn't follow the official Church of England.

How the Chapel Started

Meetings for worship first happened in the old Bardon Hall. This was a house with a moat around it in Bardon Park. This was in the 1600s, a time when it was against the law to worship in any way other than the official Church of England.

After the Glorious Revolution in 1688, when William and Mary II of England|Mary became rulers of England, things changed. Parliament passed the Act of Toleration in 1689. This law made it legal for Protestants who were not part of the Church of England to worship freely.

Soon after this, John Hood, who owned Bardon Hall, built the chapel. He built it near the entrance to his estate. He hired a Presbyterian minister named Reverend Michael Matthews to lead the services.

Some people say that worship meetings happened at Bardon Hall as early as 1662. However, there isn't much proof for this.

Michael Matthews also served as a minister in Mountsorrel. His grave is in the church at Swithland. His son-in-law, James Watson, also worked as a minister at both Mountsorrel and Bardon. Later, James became the main minister at a big church in Leicester.

In the early 1700s, a man named Dr. John Evans made a list of Dissenting churches across the country. His list showed that Bardon Park had the largest country church for Dissenters in Leicestershire.

Chapel Schools

A Sunday school started at Bardon Park in 1820. There was also a day-school before the Elementary Education Act 1870 was passed. This day-school was part of the "British Schools" movement. These schools were run by the British and Foreign School Society.

About the Chapel Buildings

The chapel building is square. It has a high pulpit (a raised stand for the speaker) on the north wall. Behind the pulpit are two large, round-topped windows. This was a common style for buildings at that time. The pulpit is probably from the mid-1700s, but it has been changed a lot over time.

Behind the pulpit, there are two slate memorials. One is from the late 1700s, and the other is from the early 1800s. The chapel has galleries (balconies) on three sides. The current galleries were built in 1905, but they replaced older ones.

In 1877, the outside of the chapel was changed quite a bit. The "1877" datestone above the door shows when these changes were made. However, the building itself is much older, said to be 300 years old. The current gabled roof (a roof with two sloping sides that meet at a ridge) was also added in 1877. It replaced older hipped roofs (roofs that slope down on all four sides).

A special feature of the chapel is a casement window that opens wide. This was designed to allow coffins to be brought inside.

Behind the chapel, there is a schoolroom from the 1800s. Inside, you can still see a painted alphabet board from 1848. It's high on the classroom wall and was used as a guide for students to practice their letters.

The buildings are set back from the road. They are surrounded by a large burial ground (cemetery).

The chapel is located at the edge of Bardon Park. This used to be an old deer park. From the chapel, you can see across the parkland to Bardon Hall and Bardon Hill.

Life at the Chapel

In the 1700s, "Bardon Meeting" was attended by local important families and landowners. In the 1800s, the chapel became a place of worship for local farm workers, colliery (coal mine) workers, and quarry workers. Today, the chapel has a small group of people who attend services.

Chapel's Church Connections

The first ministers at Bardon Park were Presbyterian. People also used the wider term "Protestant Dissenters." In 1765, when the Hood family leader gave the Bardon Park Chapel to a group of trustees, his legal document didn't name any specific church group. The 1765 document simply said the building was to be used for "Protestant Dissenters" to worship.

A national group called the Congregational Union was formed in the 1830s. The Bardon Park church joined this group in the first half of the 1800s. In 1972, the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Union joined together to form the United Reformed Church. The Bardon Park church then became part of the United Reformed Church.

In 2010, Bardon Park Chapel was used by both the United Reformed Church group and the Bardon Park Chapel Christian Fellowship.

Throughout its long history as a Christian meetinghouse in the Free Church tradition, Bardon Park Chapel has been a place of worship used by Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Christians who didn't belong to a specific church group.

Finding the Chapel

The chapel is located on the eastbound side of the A511 dual-carriageway main road (Shaw Lane). It is about 1.4 miles west of the M1 motorway's Junction 22.

The 'what3words' address for the entrance to the chapel's driveway is silver.yacht.admits.

The chapel's postal address is Shaw Lane, Bardon Hill, Coalville, LE67 1SY.

The chapel stands about 635 feet (193 meters) above sea level.