Christian Meeting House, Wall End - Church of Christ

Christian Meeting House,
Wall End
Lancashire

Cemeteries

The church has a graveyard at the rear.

Church History

It was founded in 1876.

Although the present building dates from 1876, the members trace their origins back to earlier foundations. By the early 19th century, a congregation associated with the 17th century independent church at Tottlebank (q.v.) was meeting in a building at St Mary's Well, Kirkby Ireleth. Around 1826, the original Tottlebank congregation was veering towards definite Baptist ideas, whereupon the Kirkby congregation became separated from the parent church, mainly over issues of theology. It was soon to become completely autonomous, although broadly identifying with the ideas of the Christian Brethren. Eventually, the Kirkby members redesignated themselves as an independent Church of Christ and the original meeting house at St Mary's Well was sold (the Tottlebank church claiming a share in the proceeds). They moved to new premises close by, but again these were eventually found to be too small. Today's building at Wall End opened in 1876, with the previous St Mary's Well chapel being converted to a cottage. Nevertheless, a degree of continuity with the earliest traditions of Tottlebank is still asserted by the two independent Churches of Christ, which remain locally at Wall End and at Ulverston.

Churches of Christ or Disciples of Christ: a religious body which originated in the USA in 1811, through the work of Alexander Campbell, initially as a group within Presbyterianism and organised as a separate religious body in 1827. They are variously known as 'Campbellites', 'Disciples of Christ' and [especially in the UK] 'Churches of Christ'. The churches are congregationally organised, the Bible is the only basis of faith, and all creedal formulas are rejected. [Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.]

Church Records

Whilst every effort has been made to record exact details of record office and library holdings you are recommended to check with them before visiting to ensure that they do hold the records and years you wish to examine. Similarly check with transcript publishers to ensure they cover the records and years you require before making a purchase.

Indexes

The Cumbria Record Office, Barrow hold an index of:

• Burials 1876-1998

Maps

The church is located at OS grid reference SD2347783168. You can see this on maps provided by:

• this church marked on a Google map. (Use this to report a corrected location)
• Google Streetview (Drag pegman to centre of map to show picture)
• OldMaps
• StreetMap
• Open StreetMap
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Magic
• Vision of Britain
• English Jurisdictions in 1851
• Google maps showing nearby churches with satellite image option.

This site provides historical information about churches, other places of worship and cemeteries. It has no connection with the churches themselves. For current information you should contact them directly.