Places of Worship GAZ Whitehaven

St. Nicholas’ church: (first known church 1642, some evidence a chapel may have existed in 1359), rebuilt on a new site 1693, enlarged 1745, rebuilt on the same site 1883, nave and chancel destroyed by fire 1971, tower still open as a chapel and community centre/cafe. Holy Trinity church: built 1714; demolished 1949; St. James church: built 1753, now the parish church; Christ Church: 1847-1977, demolished 2004 after a fire; Kells St. Peter: Mission from 1908, relocated 1920, Church opened 1939; St. Mary’s: built 1789, but was never consecrated as a result of a dispute with the Lowthers - later used by Methodists (below) as Hogarth’s Mission.

First Roman Catholic Church 1761 in Chapel Lane. St. Mary’s church opened 1780 in Duke St/Catherine Street, enlarged 1824, moved to new Church (St. Bega’s) on Coach Road in 1868; St. Gregory’s (Coach Road) 1835, became a School, new Chapel St. Gregory & St. Patrick 1890 (Quay Street), Kells St. Mary 1927, rebuilt 1961, Mirehouse St. Benedict 1965.

Presbyterian worship began in 1672 in a house. A chapel was built in 1695 for all Protestant Dissenters enlarged in 1749; it was renovated in 1856 and rebuilt 1905. Also Scotch Presbyterian in Howgill Street from 1755, then High Street ‘Kirk’ 1760-1895 (reopened later as a Methodist Mission-below).

Congregational worship (originally Lady Huntington’s Connexion and known as Independents) at Providence Chapel, Duke Street in 1793. Enlarged 1838 and moved to Scotch Street as Congregational Church in 1874. Closed and demolished in 1969 when URC Church formed, using the Presbyterian Church.

Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Michael Street from 1761. Subsided 1791 and rebuilt 1795 (used Hogarth’s Mission 1791-1795) and 1818. Closed 1877, moved to new Church at Lowther Street 1877. Closed 1996. Kirk Mission 1905-1965: purchased by Joseph Chisam in August 1904 as an Independent Protestant Mission and altered at a cost of £1,092 raised by public subscription; opened February 1905, united with Hogarth’s Mission on 1st January 1908, became a  Wesleyan Mission in 1910; closed in 1965, now private housing. They also used Hogarth’s Mission again from 1899 to 1954 when it was demolished, due to slum clearance (the trust closed in 1957 after the church and contents had been disposed of). From 1885 to 17th September 1899 Holy Trinity Church had a Mission at West Strand, then demolished for an extension to the Electricity Works, run by the Wesleyans in the closing years. This re-opened in the old and long redundant Hogarth’s {St Mary’s} Church on 27th September 1899, the old Church having been bought by Joseph Chisam (also of the Kirk Mission) and restored by Messrs Chapple & Son at a cost of over £1,000 raised by public subscription. Sunday School added 1904 costing £700. Although staffed by the Wesleyans from opening it was technically independent until 1910. After use by the Primitive Methodists ceased in 1859 the church had been deconsecrated, used for secular uses for a time but was long abandoned.

Primitive Methodist chapel on Fox Lane to 1859, then Howgill Street to closure in 1940 (not in 1851 census); Hogarth Mission 1828-1859; Kells from 1915 (Chapel from 1920), closed 1982.

Methodist New Connection/United Methodist chapel on Catherine Street 1836-1934 (Methodist reunification)-became Salvation Army.

Quaker Meeting House on Sandhills Lane 1727-1931, then moved to Irish Street, now behind old Lowther St. Methodist Church, closed October 2013.

Plymouth Bretheren started in a house in 1854, moved 1859 to old Prim Meth chapel in Fox Lane, then to the old Quaker Meeting House in 1931, still open.

English Baptist chapel at Charles Street; built 1758 and enlarged 1842. Closed after 1851 and later met above Co-op, closed at unknown date; Scotch Baptists (Disciples of Christ)- Gores Buildings 1828, closed after 1851 at unknown date.

Birdites (Church of Christ) met in the Guinea Warehouse in 1851, no other details are known.

Elim Pentecostal: founded 1957 & met in the YMCA. Built a new church at George Street in 1961. Closed 2012 when combined with Woodbank Evangelical Church (see PRESTON QUARTER).

Town Mission (Non-Denominational) on Rosemary Lane, 1862; rebuilt 1919 and still open 2012.

Colliery Mission (Non-Denominational) opened 1865; moved 1876 to the old Glasshouse School, Ginns; relocated 1960 and is still open in 2012. [See also ‘other sources’ for a uncertainty over dates]

Salvation Army opened in 1878 at the Tangier Street Coffee Rooms, then the Market Hall then the old Providence Chapel (Duke Street) from 1880 to 1937 when moved to old United Methodist Chapel (Catherine Street), rebuilt on the same site in 1971 (opened 23rd October 1971), still open.

In 1874 an Askkenazi Orthodox synagogue opened in Whitehaven.