Hello Louise, This information is taken from 'Old Sheffield Town' by J. Edward Vickers. Queen Street Chapel Not very far from the bottom of Fig Tree Lane was Queen Street Chapel, one of the old brick built chapels of Sheffield. The chapel arose because of a disagreement in 1782, between some of the older members of Nether Chapel, in Norfolk Street, and the Minister, the Rev. John Harmer. An approach was therefore made to the Church Burgesses for a building site and on 28th March, 1783, the Burgesses leased 'a piece of ground (then Wade's Orchard) situate in a new street which was to be made and called either Fig Street or Queen Street, for the term of 99 years, at one penny halfpenny per yard, for the purpose of erecting a place of worship theron'. The Chapel was completed in 1784 and the first minister was Jehoiada Brewer, who came to Sheffield from the Congregational Church at Rodborough, in Gloucestershire. Mr. Brewer accepted the call in March, 1783 and preached for the first time at the Chapel in Queen Street on 3rd December 1783, even though, at that time, the chapel was only partly built. He remained Minister at the Chapel until the year 1796. There is no plan or specification of the original building, but it is known that when first built the Chapel was 'fronted with a dead brick wall, no porch over the doors, all within as plain as the simplest whitewash, a narrow vestry at the lower end'. The Chapel was enlarged in 1853-4 and in 1880-1 more extensive alterations were carried out at a cost of £5,000. New schools and vestries were built and the building as we knew it in 1967 was completed. In the 18th century membership of the Chapel was taken very seriously, for we find that in 1794, the members pledged themselves to punctuality and regular attendance. One member during this time, was suspended for a month for using 'unadvised words to his wife', whilst others were 'separated from membership for falsehood'. Many noted Sheffield people worshipped at Queen Street Chapel, one of the most prominent being the poet, James Montgomery. When the Sunday School Union was founded at the Chapel in 1812, Montgomery was elected the first Sunday School President. At this time, the Sunday School, which was formed in 1806, had 640 scholars. Unfortunately, owing to dwindling attendances, the old Chapel had to close its doors and the last service was held in January 1967. The wheel has now turned full circle, for the remaining members have now rejoined the Nether Chapel (now the Central United Reformed Church) from which they broke away 190 years ago. The records of baptisms are held at Sheffield Archives, details below, Baptisms 1783-1837 Ref: A136 (M.f.) 1783-1837 Ref: 344/K1/1 (M.f.) 1783-1956 Ref: A148 (M.f.) Sheffield Archives and Conservation Unit 52 Shoreham Street Sheffield S1 4SP Archives Tel: +44 (0) 114 203 9395 Conservation Tel: +44 (0) 114 203 9399 Fax: +44 (0) 114 203 9398 For Archives e-mail: sheffield.archives@dial.pipex.com For Conservation Unit e-mail: we.preserve@dial.pipex.com Best Wishes Jeremy Crawshaw (Temp. List Admin) Crookes SHEFFIELD ---------------------------------------------------- Outgoing Mail protected by: NORTON Internet Security 2004 Updated: 21st May 2005 ---------------------------------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: "stephen merrill" <member@merrill14.wanadoo.co.uk> To: <ENG-SHEFFIELD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 03, 2005 1:55 PM Subject: [SHEFF] MERRILL & Queen Street Chapel > Hi everyone > I am interested in the MERRILL family of Sheffield and would love to hear from anyone connected to them. > I have a George MERRILL, who I am almost certain is my ancestor, who was described as the overseers to the deacons of the Queen Street Chapel upon his death in 1855. Does anyone have any information on the Chapel, particularly the location of any surviving baptism records. There seems to be a lack on baptism records for the MERRILL family as a whole so I guess they were all baptised in the chapel!!! > Also tracing: SADLER & ROEBUCK > TIA > Louise > > -- > > Whatever you Wanadoo: > http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/time/ > > This email has been checked for most known viruses - find out more at: http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/help/id/7098.htm > > > ==== ENG-SHEFFIELD Mailing List ==== > It helps others to know which message your replying to, so always add a little of the text from the message to which you are responding. Some subscribers (myself included) have short memories. > > ============================== > Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. > Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx > > >