Castle Gate Congregational Centre facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Castle Gate Congregational Centre
Castle Gate Congregational Centre
Denomination	Formerly Congregational now Independent

The Castle Gate Congregational Centre is a special building in Nottingham, England. It is known as a Grade II listed building. This means it's an important historical place that needs to be protected.

A Look at History

The group of people who worshiped here first came together in the 1650s. Their first meeting place on Castle Gate was set up in 1689. This happened after the Act of Toleration 1689 was passed. This law allowed different religious groups to worship freely.

The building you see today was built much later, in 1863. It was designed by an architect named Richard Charles Sutton. The church officially opened for worship in 1864. In 1866, there was a public legal case involving a church leader. This event was widely reported in newspapers at the time.

Over the years, the church's group changed its name and joined different religious families. In 1972, they became part of the United Reformed Church. A few years later, in 1975, they joined with another church called St. Andrew's United Reformed Church. But in 1980, the original group, the Congregational Federation, bought the building back.

More recently, in 2010, another Christian group called the El Shaddai International Christian Centre started using the building. They had a five-year agreement to use the space.

Churches Started by Castle Gate

The Castle Gate church was very successful. It helped start many other churches in the area. Here are some of them:

• Park Hill Congregational Church: This church started in 1823. It moved to a new building in 1880.
• Boulevard Congregational Church: This church opened in 1824. It is now part of the United Reformed Church.
• Bloomsgrove Mission: This group formed in 1836. It later moved and became Norton Street Congregational Church. It closed in 1979.
• Albion Congregational Church, Sneinton: This church opened in 1856 and closed in 1986.
• Old Radford Mission: This group was founded in 1860.
• Thorneywood Congregational Church: This church started in 1861 and closed in 1968.
• Addison Street Congregational Church: This church was founded in 1867.
• Queen's Walk Congregational Church: This church started in 1869 and closed in 1970. It is now called The Pilgrim Church.
• St Ann's Well Road Congregational Church: This church was founded in 1870 and closed in 1970.
• Sherwood Congregational Church: This church opened in 1927. It is now Sherwood United Reformed Church.
• Parkdale Congregational Church: This church opened in 1930.
• Lenton Abbey Congregational Church: This church group formed in 1929. The church building opened in 1933. It later closed in 2010.
• Clifton Congregational Church: This church was founded in 1956. It is now part of the United Reformed Church.

The Church Organ

When the new church building opened in 1864, it got a new organ in 1865. This organ was built by Forster and Andrews and cost £449. That was a lot of money back then! This first organ was later sold in 1908 to Hyson Green United Reformed Church.

The church got its current organ in 1909. This organ was very special. It was built in 1903 by James Jepson Binns for a local leader named Councillor George E. Franklin. It cost about £3,500, which was a huge amount of money at the time. Many talented musicians have played the organ at Castle Gate over the years.