Crich Carr Church, Crich, Derbyshire, March 2019

1. The History
This derelict Primitive Methodist Chapel, on the Middle Lane, Crich, was built about 1845 and held about 100 worshippers. A Sabbath School was taught here and the Derbyshire Courier from 22nd July 1837 makes reference to the Sunday School Sermons being preached in the open air by the Rev W Stokes due to the chapel being too small.

In 1877 it was decided to build a larger chapel to cater for the larger congregations with the existing church having been deemed inadequate for the accommodation of the congregation and the Sabbath school. Mr John Sims of Crich Carr donated land to erect a new chapel and schoolroom. He also donated the stone required and £100 towards the cost of building the replacement chapel on Top Lane. At the time there was a race on with the Crich Baptists to see who could finish their chapel first. The Crich Carr Methodists claimed a moral victory.

The recent history of the church is really sketchy. It has been empty for some time and appears to have been used for storage in recent years.

2. The Explore
Remember passing this place while driving to Ambergate on my last visit and then completely forgetting about it. Then recently stumbled across it again. This time stopped for a shufty. It’s a delightful little church but shut tight. Externally its really photogenic plus managed to have a peek through the broken stained-glass window. It’s packed full of stuff. The roof is in decent nick and it would make a fantastic little home if converted. It seems unclear who currently owns the place but hopefully some one will claim it and give it the TLC the place needs.

3. The Pictures

img0028 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0039 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0034 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Crich Carr 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Crich Carr 02 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0033 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0032 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0036 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0037 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0038 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0040 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Crich Carr 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Crich Carr 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr

My eyebrows few to the back of my head when I saw the internals!
That's a cute little church and appears to be in fair condition too - dry inside still?
I think the iron bars outside are to do with a boiler/heating system? That was probably down some steps beneath an outer wall.
I know I complain about there being no derelict buildings left up here, this has reminded me of something. Woo I might even get an explore done up here..
Interesting and well spotted. I reckon by Summer it'll be well hidden that.

Wow I didn’t really even look in the window doh! U have substantially more pics than me too. Excellent work with the history

Sausage said:

My eyebrows few to the back of my head when I saw the internals!
That's a cute little church and appears to be in fair condition too - dry inside still?
I think the iron bars outside are to do with a boiler/heating system? That was probably down some steps beneath an outer wall.
I know I complain about there being no derelict buildings left up here, this has reminded me of something. Woo I might even get an explore done up here..
Interesting and well spotted. I reckon by Summer it'll be well hidden that.

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Really cute innit? Loads of stuff round here - some small like this and some things on an industrial scale ;-)

BikinGlynn said:

Wow I didn’t really even look in the window doh! U have substantially more pics than me too. Excellent work with the history

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Cheers mate. Took a bit of digging and there isn't much out there but at least found something!

Nice find, I enjoyed your pics, Thanks

Nice find mate.shame you did not get in.but the externals are lovely

I used to live just up that steep hill! Some info for you. The church is now "looked after" by a guy in the village and was used as a workshop for quite a few years before being turned in to a storage unit. If you walk up the hill, theres a group of houses in a triangle. One of which used to be a smaller school for girls or sunday school I believe where as there was another school at bottom of hill (still is a school). The house we used to live in was a small holding. We used to find loads of old stuff in the field opposite the house and in the garden was an old coal bumper. House was dated back to the 1600s. Continue up to the top of that road and theres a modern house above a garage. This was Linda McCartney's house (wife of sir paul McCartney). Theres also a natural spring that runs alongside the road and little wells. A nice derelict quarry as well to add to the collection. The village is steeped in history and was stunning to live there.

Sausage said:

I think the iron bars outside are to do with a boiler/heating system? That was probably down some steps beneath an outer wall.

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The last thing the Primitive Methodists would have wanted under their Chapel was a boiler; one studied God's work in the cold, not in comfort. No distractions allowed to fog the mind of the real reason you were in this place, on a cold and wet winter's morn. Ones very Soul was at risk! The hand holds on boiler irons tended to be flat topped where the fingers of the hand wrapped around and have rounded edges. The squared edges on those circular hand holds would have made the tools - if they are boiler irons, very uncomfortable to use. More likely to be supports for some temporary barrier, if there is nothing attached to the other end of the tool - part of the grave diggers kit perhaps?

Reckon someone was/is using it as storage? What's the contraption in the last pic? Looks like a photographic enlarger to me.

urbex13 said:

Reckon someone was/is using it as storage? What's the contraption in the last pic? Looks like a photographic enlarger to me.

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It's a floor standing pedestal drill.