Protestant nonconformity
After 1660 Burton was as a centre for nonconformists,
with five excluded clergy active or resident in the town:
Thomas Bakewell, ejected from Rolleston and briefly
Boylston lecturer in Burton parish church; Henry Bee,
a native of Stapenhill who had been ejected from
Hanbury; Thomas Ford, who had received Presbyterian
ordination in Derbyshire; Daniel Shelmerdine, ejected
from Barrow-on-Trent (Derb.); and Richard Swynfen,
ejected from Mavesyn Ridware. (fn. 1) They were probably
attracted to Burton by the protection afforded dissenters by Lord Paget, a Presbyterian sympathizer, by
the possibilities of evading the secular authorities by
slipping between Staffordshire and Derbyshire, and by
the traditions of puritanism in the town. (fn. 2) Twenty-four
persons from Burton were presented for not going to
church in 1668, and in 1669 there were two conventicles in the parish, one for Presbyterians and one for
Baptists, both said to be 'great'. (fn. 3) Four licences were
issued under the Declaration of Indulgence of 1672,
two for Baptists and two for Presbyterians, although
only 65 nonconformists were recorded in the parish in
1676. (fn. 4)
Several congregations withered in the 18th century,
so that by 1793 there were only three nonconformist
places of worship (one each for Independents, Calvinistic Methodists, and Wesleyans). Methodist and
Baptist congregations, however, grew in the early
19th century, so that by 1834 there were five chapels;
in 1843 the perpetual curate of St. Modwen's complained that the lack of accommodation for the working classes in Anglican churches meant that the poor
were driven either to 'heathenism, or to Dissent which
is very active'. (fn. 5) On Census Sunday 1851 one-third of
the recorded attendances in the town were at the six
chapels for Protestant dissenters. (fn. 6)
The late 19th century saw expansion among all the
mainstream denominations: 15 Methodist places of
worship were opened between 1851 and 1901, when
there were at least 22 chapels and meeting rooms in
Burton, with a further 15 in Branston, Horninglow,
Stapenhill, Stretton, and Winshill. With many of their
congregations employed in the breweries, most of
Burton's free churches remained at peace with beer,
and the brewers responded by donating towards the
costs of chapel building. (fn. 7) After the Second World War
most of the major denominations declined as a consequence not only of reduced church-going but also
the movement of population away from the town
centre: 11 Methodist chapels were closed in Burton
between 1958 and 2000, 6 in Horninglow, 2 in Stapenhill, and 1 in Winshill. While other groups were more
successful, particularly Spiritualists in the early 20th
century and Pentecostalists and non-denominational
congregations later in the century, in 2000 there were
only 9 nonconformist congregations in the town, with
a further 8 in Branston, Horninglow, Stapenhill,
Stretton, and Winshill.
BAPTISTS
Particular Baptists
Two signatories to a Baptist letter addressed to Oliver
Cromwell in 1651 may have been representatives of a
Particular Baptist church in the town. A petition from
several Particular Baptist churches in 1654 was signed
by two representatives of 'the church of Christ at Derby
and Burton'; that church was still meeting in 1659. (fn. 8)
The large Baptist congregation reported in Burton in
1669 was probably the same church, and in 1672 the
house of William Tomlinson, probably one of the
signatories of the 1654 petition, was licensed for a
Baptist congregation. In 1672 a general licence was also
granted to John Blundell of Burton, a Baptist teacher. (fn. 9)
An adult Baptist was converted to Anglicanism in 1728
and another in 1743, (fn. 10) and the congregation probably
ceased meeting soon after.
When Richard Thomson of Lancashire, a Particular
Baptist and cotton spinner, came to Burton in 1780 on
the opening of Robert Peel's cotton mill, there was no
meeting in Burton. He accordingly held services in his
house at Burton mills in 1789 and registered a house in
New Street for Particular Baptists in 1790. By 1792 the
church had 20 members, but in 1793 the first minister
resigned after being criticised for paying 'too much
attention to his worldly belongings'. In 1800, after
asking another minister to resign, the church dissolved
itself but later in the same year some of the members
re-opened the meeting house, which continued to be
used until 1805; it was probably closed shortly afterwards. (fn. 11) It was presumably the remainder of the
congregation which opened a chapel on the south
side of Cat (later Station) Street in 1803; enlarged by
the addition of a Grecian portico in 1842, it was known
as Salem chapel by 1848. (fn. 12) On Census Sunday 1851 the
congregation numbered 102 in the morning and 129 in
the evening, besides Sunday scholars. (fn. 13) The chapel was
rebuilt in 1861 after a fire, and again in a contemporary
style in 1957; it continued in use in 2000. (fn. 14)
In 1871 a group withdrew from Salem chapel and
began worshipping in St. George's Hall, and by 1872 it
had 23 members. They opened an iron chapel in Guild
Street in 1874, (fn. 1) and moved in 1887 to a new tabernacle
in Derby Street, built of brick to a design by A. T.
Greening of Birmingham, and with financial assistance
from some of the breweries and other employers. (fn. 2)
Figure 46:
Salem Baptist chapel, Station Street,
from north
Figure 47:
New Street Baptist chapel from
south-west
General Baptists
About 1823 General Baptist preachers from Cauldwell
(Derb.) began conducting services in a cotton warehouse in Bond End. (fn. 3) In 1825 a chapel was opened at
the corner of Fleet Street and Green Street, where on
Census Sunday 1851 there was a morning congregation
of 72, besides Sunday scholars, and an evening one of
148. (fn. 4) In 1855 the congregation moved to the newly
built Zion chapel at the corner of Union Street and
New Street. That chapel was replaced in 1883 by one
on the same site, built in brick in a 13th-century
Gothic style to a design by J. W. Chapman of
London. (fn. 5) The chapel was destroyed by fire in 1966,
and the congregation moved into the adjoining Sunday
schoolroom. (fn. 6) The congregation amalgamated with that
at the former Particular Baptist chapel in Derby Street
in 1972, and in 1980 the New Street premises were sold
to make way for commercial development. (fn. 7)
Seceders from Zion chapel, including its former
pastor Alfred Underwood, began worshipping in a
schoolroom in Needwood Street in 1879. In 1880
they opened Emmanuel chapel in Parker Street, (fn. 8) built
of brick in a Gothic style to a design by C. F. Underhill
of Burton, and with financial assistance from the
breweries. The chapel was sold to Primitive Methodists
in 1891. (fn. 9)
In 1969 it was agreed that the three Baptist churches
in Burton (Salem, Derby Street, and New Street)
should amalgamate as one church, but on the eve of
the inauguration of the union in 1972 Salem chapel
withdrew. New Street and Derby Street continued with
the plan, and in 1975 a chapel called the New Baptist
church was built for both congregations in a contemporary style, on the site of the Derby Street tabernacle;
it remained open in 2000. (fn. 10)
BRETHREN
A United Brethren chapel on the west side of Dale
Street in existence by 1879 had closed by 1884. (fn. 11)
Plymouth Brethren had a meeting house on the
north side of Dallow Street by 1882, and possibly as
early as the mid 1870s. (fn. 12) It was closed in 1938, when
the congregation moved to Horninglow. (fn. 13)
Christian Brethren established a meeting room on
the east side of Wetmore Road before 1903, moving in
1922 to a building, known as Gospel Hall by 1952, on
the west side of Wetmore Road. (fn. 14) Growing increasingly
non-denominational, they moved in 1974 to the
former Congregational chapel in High Street, later
renamed High Street Evangelical church; the congregation left High Street in 1994 and began meeting in
Abbot Beyne school, Winshill, where it continued to
meet as Burton Community Church in 2000. (fn. 1) The
High Street chapel remained unused in 2000.
The registration by Brethren in 1903 of a meeting
room on the east side of Guild Street was cancelled in
1919, but Plymouth Brethren were apparently still
meeting there in 1938. (fn. 2) Brethren registered a meeting
room at the east end of Horninglow Street in 1925, but
had probably ceased to meet there by 1952. (fn. 3)
CHRISTADELPHIANS
Christadelphians met in the temperance hall in Union
Street by 1895, and had moved to the masonic hall in
the same street by 1925. (fn. 4) In 1952 they worshipped in
the Y.M.C.A. premises in High Street, moving in 1953
to a converted brick building in Blackpool Street,
which remained in use in 2000. (fn. 5)
SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS)
George Fox preached near Burton in 1651 after his
release from Derby gaol and made some conversions,
but no Quaker meeting is known in the town before
the early 1690s. (fn. 6) A house, occupied by Samuel Jess, was
converted to a meeting house in 1699 and was registered in 1723. (fn. 7) The Burton Friends later joined the
Tutbury Friends at their meeting house at Stockley
Park until that was closed in 1730. Friends in the
Burton area were then advised to attend a meeting in
Uttoxeter. (fn. 8) Another house in Burton was rented by
Friends in an attempt to re-establish a meeting in the
town in 1748, but that meeting ceased in the mid
1750s. (fn. 9)
An 'allowed meeting' was begun in Burton in 1925
in rooms belonging to the Y.M.C.A. in High Street, and
in 1929, when there were 14 Friends in Burton, it was
recognized as a 'preparative meeting'. A meeting house
was opened in 1930 in a converted brewery office in
Abbey Street. (fn. 10) That meeting was closed in 1973 when
the few Friends remaining in Burton were advised to
attend a new Uttoxeter and Burton preparative meeting in Uttoxeter; the Burton meeting house was sold in
1974 and was later demolished. (fn. 11)
INDEPENDENTS, LATER
CONGREGATIONALISTS
In 1807 the trustees of the former Presbyterian chapel
in High Street agreed to let their chapel, house, and
school to the Revd. Robert McLean, who by 1808 had
formed an Independent congregation. It may have
included former members of the Presbyterian church
and soon claimed descent from Burton's 17th-century
Presbyterian congregation. (fn. 12) The church was known
until 1838 as the Independent chapel, (fn. 13) and thereafter
as either the Independent or Congregational chapel. (fn. 14)
In 1810 the church had 20 members. (fn. 15) Problems in the
first half of the 19th century included difficulties
securing a permanent pastor and the temporary dissolution of the church. The chapel, however, was
enlarged in 1827 (fn. 16) and rebuilt in 1842 on an adjoining
site in a Gothic style with a stone façade, using materials from the racecourse grandstand; the architect was
Henry Stevens of Derby. (fn. 17) On Census Sunday 1851 the
morning congregation numbered about 100, besides
Sunday scholars, with 84 in the evening. (fn. 18)
Problems in securing and paying for a pastor continued in the 1850s and early 1860s: in 1861 the
minister, Alexander Mackennal, resigned after quarrelling with a part of the congregation over his views on
the Atonement and his rejection of orthodox Calvinism, and some left to join the Presbyterian church. (fn. 19)
There was a further secession of members in 1887 to
form a new church in Guild Street. That rift was healed
in 1903, (fn. 20) when the reunited congregation became the
Burton-on-Trent Congregational church. (fn. 21) From 1967
the congregation shared a minister with Cross Street
Presbyterian church and it later considered closing the
High Street chapel and moving to Cross Street. (fn. 22) In
1972, however, it moved to George Street Methodist
church and, on the amalgamation that year of the
national Congregational and Presbyterian churches as
the United Reformed Church, the Cross Street congregation also moved to George Street. High Street
chapel was sold to Brethren. (fn. 1) A small burial ground
which existed to the rear of the High Street chapel by
1835, and which was also used by Baptists, was closed
on the opening of the municipal cemetery in 1866. (fn. 2)
The group which seceded from the High Street
chapel in 1887 at first began worshipping in St.
George's Hall and later the same year in an iron
chapel in Guild Street, presumably that previously
used by seceders from Salem Baptist chapel. By the
end of 1887 the new church had 58 members, and in
1889 it appointed a permanent pastor. (fn. 3) Attempts to reunite the two churches foundered on the opposition of
the minister of High Street chapel, but after his
resignation in 1902 amalgamation was agreed; Guild
Street chapel closed later that year when the congregation returned to High Street. (fn. 4)
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
The International Bible Students' Association (known
as Jehovah's Witnesses from 1931) organized a meeting
in the town hall in 1924, and by 1925 a local group was
meeting in Horninglow Street. (fn. 5) In 1930 it registered a
meeting room in Station Street, which was replaced in
1941 by a Kingdom Hall, also in Station Street. The
meeting moved to Horninglow in 1944, back to Burton
in 1952 (in Horninglow Street, and then from 1969 in
Station Street), and returned to Horninglow in 1976. (fn. 6)
LATTER-DAY SAINTS (MORMONS)
In 1854 Edward Dorman, a chimney sweep, registered
a building in a yard off High Street in favour of LatterDay Saints. The registration was cancelled in 1866. (fn. 7)
METHODISTS
Wesleyan
Horninglow Street Chapel Thomas Hanby, an associate of John Wesley, met violent opposition in 1754
when he preached in High Street, apparently in a
shoemaker's house. (fn. 8) A society, however, had been
formed by 1765 when Edward Slater, a tammy
weaver, registered a meeting house on the north side
of Horninglow Street, opposite the later junction of
that road with Guild Street, (fn. 9) and it was presumably
there that Wesley preached to an 'exceeding serious
congregation' in 1766; Wesley returned in 1770 and
1772. (fn. 10) Membership of the society varied between 87
and 146 between 1799 and 1810. (fn. 11) In 1825, when there
were morning and evening services every Sunday, there
was said to be 'a very good feeling' among the
Methodists even though the opening of the neighbouring Anglican Holy Trinity church the previous year had
caused the congregation to decline. (fn. 12) Probably in the
late 1820s, and certainly by 1837, the chapel was rebuilt
with a preacher's house and a chapel keeper's house
behind, and in 1843 the chapel was enlarged. (fn. 13) On
Census Sunday 1851 there was a morning congregation
of 90, besides 70 in the Sunday school, and an evening
congregation of 97. The average congregation over the
last eight months, however, was said to have been 170
in the morning (besides 70 Sunday scholars) and 200
in the evening, and the minister blamed a schism
earlier that year for the drop in numbers. (fn. 14) Horninglow
Street chapel was closed in 1871 and sold in 1876; it
was later demolished. (fn. 15)
Station Street Chapel A new chapel on the corner of
Station Street and Union Street was opened in 1871.
Built of brick with a stone spire, it was designed by
Edward Holmes of Birmingham in a Decorated style. (fn. 16)
It was closed in 1958 and later demolished. (fn. 17)
Byrkley Street Chapel A Wesleyan mission to railway
workers was established in Wellington Street c. 1865, (fn. 18)
and in 1874 it opened a chapel, designed by Nicholas
Joyce of Stafford, on the north-east side of Byrkley
Street. (fn. 19) In 1883 the chapel was rebuilt in red brick
with stone dressings in a Gothic style to a design by
C. F. Underhill, with a three-bay gabled façade incorporating a large rose window. (fn. 20) The chapel was closed
in 1972 when the congregation amalgamated with that
at George Street Methodist chapel; the building was
demolished c. 1977. (fn. 1)
Other Missions An iron chapel in Clarence Street, at
the corner with Queen Street, was registered in 1896; it
was closed in 1960 and later demolished. (fn. 2) A schoolchapel in Ash Street was opened from the Clarence
Street chapel in 1912; it had closed by 1964. (fn. 3)
A house registered by Wesleyan Methodists in 1807
was probably in New Street, where services were
certainly being held in 1825. (fn. 4) Services there ceased
between 1836 and 1849. (fn. 5)
Calvinistic
A place of worship recorded in 1793 for the followers
of 'the late Mr. Whitfield' was presumably for Calvinistic Methodists, a sect founded by George Whitefield.
It had closed by 1834. (fn. 6)
Arminian
In 1832 a meeting house, probably in Bond End, was
opened for Arminian Methodists, a small group in the
Derby area which had broken away from Wesleyan
Methodism in 1831 over Justification. The meeting
house was presumably closed on the reunion of the
Arminian Methodists with the Wesleyan Methodists in
1837. (fn. 7)
Primitive
In 1819 Sampson Turner, an itinerant preacher, came
to Burton and registered a former weaving shop for
worship. The congregation increased and a society was
formed in 1820, meeting also in the Particular Baptist
chapel in Cat (later Station) Street; there were 54
members in 1827. (fn. 8) Hugh Bourne, co-founder of the
movement, preached in Burton in 1821, 1832, and
1847. (fn. 9) A chapel was opened further west along Cat
Street in 1829; (fn. 10) attendance on Census Sunday 1851
was about 50 in the morning and 200 in the evening. (fn. 11)
The chapel was closed c. 1878 on the opening of a new
chapel in Mosley Street, which continued in use until
1946 when it was transferred to the Salvation Army;
the Methodist congregation then joined that at the
Methodist (formerly Wesleyan Methodist) chapel in
Station Street. (fn. 12)
Jubilee chapel in Victoria Crescent was opened in
1860, but had closed by 1895; the building still stood in
2000. (fn. 13) The congregation may have moved to the
former Emmanuel Baptist chapel, Parker Street,
which was purchased by Primitive Methodists in
1891; that chapel was closed in 1993. (fn. 14)
A Sunday school building in Queen Street was built
in 1871, and in 1887 a chapel was added on the street
front, built in red brick in a Gothic style to a design by
A. T. Greening of Birmingham. (fn. 15) The chapel was
demolished after the amalgamation of the congregations of Queen Street and Uxbridge Street Methodist
chapels in 1952, and a modern chapel, known as
Queensbridge, was built on the same site. That chapel
closed c. 1997 and the premises were sold to a
Pentecostalist group. (fn. 16)
Reformed, later United Methodist Free Church
A meeting of Wesleyan Methodist local preachers in 1847
agreed to collect funds for three ministers (none of them
local) expelled by the National Conference, but the call of
the superintendent of the Burton circuit to local Wesleyans in 1849 to 'stand still' appears to have temporarily
prevented any schism. (fn. 17) In 1851, however, during the
national dissensions among Wesleyan Methodists, 13
local preachers, including some of those who had protested in 1847, were omitted from the Wesleyan circuit
plan. Eight of them immediately resigned and began
conducting services in the British School in Guild
Street: on Census Sunday the estimated congregation
there was 120 in the morning and 180 in the evening. (fn. 18)
George Street Chapel A circuit missionary was
employed from 1851, (fn. 19) and a brick chapel in a Classical
style was opened in George Street in 1852; a gallery was
inserted in 1854 and a schoolroom added in 1856. (fn. 1) In
1857, when the circuit joined the United Methodist Free
Church, George Street chapel had 117 members. (fn. 2) A new
chapel, built of brick in a Grecian style to a design by
Thomas Simpson of Nottingham, was opened on the
same site in 1860. (fn. 3)
Figure 48:
Former United
Methodist Free church
of 1860, George
Street, from the south-west
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries George Street
was reckoned to be the most influential of all the
churches in Burton: 5 of the first 17 mayors of the
municipal borough were members of its congregation,
and in 1913 half the aldermen attended the chapel. (fn. 4) To
match the growing influence of the congregation, a
building campaign was begun in the early 1890s. In
1893 new vestries were built behind the chapel, and a
malting on the south side of the chapel was converted to
schoolrooms. The architects for the latter at least were
Durward, Brown, and Gordon of London, who also
designed the adjoining Liberal Club opened the following year. In 1894 the organ installed in 1863 was replaced
by one bought from St. Paul's Anglican church; (fn. 5) a chapel
keeper's house was built on the north side of the chapel
in 1895; and a central door was added to the chapel's
façade in 1904. (fn. 6) Between 1896 and 1900 the chapel
employed a deaconess to undertake pastoral work. (fn. 7)
In 1972 the congregations of Byrkley Street Methodist, Cross Street Presbyterian, and High Street Congregational chapels moved to George Street and the
chapel changed its name to Trinity Free Church, which
remained open in 2000 as a joint Methodist-United
Reformed Church chapel. (fn. 8)
Other Chapels By 1856 a society of six members had
been formed in Victoria Crescent. Services ceased in
1858, (fn. 9) but in 1864 the George Street congregation
agreed to build a school-chapel in the neighbourhood;
the school was opened in Victoria Street in 1866 and a
separate congregation of 15 members was formed there
in 1868. (fn. 10) In 1879, when a new brick, Gothic-style
chapel was opened next to the school, the congregation
was expanding, with 110 members, and a further 72 on
probation. (fn. 11) The chapel was closed in 1966, when the
congregation joined that at Byrkley Street; the building
was sold and later demolished. (fn. 12)
A temporary wooden chapel in South Uxbridge
Street was opened in 1885; it was replaced in 1889
by a brick school-chapel, designed by C. F. Underhill.
The intention to build an adjoining chapel was never
fulfilled, (fn. 13) and the school-chapel continued in use until
its closure in 1952, when the congregation amalgamated with that at Queen Street. The building later
became a Pentecostal church. (fn. 1)
An Independent Methodist chapel in Dale Street,
opened c. 1870, joined the United Methodist Free
Church in 1896; it was closed in 1961. (fn. 2)
PENTECOSTALISTS
A railway mission, begun c. 1886 in the station waiting
room, opened a mission hall beside the railway bridge
in Moor Street in 1903. Run by Pentecostalists in 1948
as the Full Gospel Mission, it had changed its name to
Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance by 1951, (fn. 3) and by
1952 was known as Elim Pentecostal church. In 1984
it moved to the redundant Anglican church of Christ
Church, Moor Street, which it continued to use in
2000. (fn. 4)
A former non-denominational mission hall in Princess Street, known as the Town Mission, was registered
in 1924 by Pentecostalists. By 1964 the hall was run by
the Bible Pattern Church Fellowship, and it was still
open in 2000 as the Town Centre Christian Centre. (fn. 5)
The Church of God worshipped in a room in the
public baths at the north end of the Hay in 1952. (fn. 6) The
Triumphant Church of God registered a room in
Blackpool Street in 1967, and moved to the former
Methodist chapel in South Uxbridge Street in 1970. It
was joined that year by the Church of God (All
Nations) Assembly, which had worshipped in the
former Methodist chapel in Dale Street since 1962.
The Triumphant Church of God continued to use the
South Uxbridge Street chapel in 2000. (fn. 7) Living Waters
Christian Fellowship of Swadlincote (Derb.) opened
the King's Way church in the former Queensbridge
Methodist chapel, Queen Street, in 1999. (fn. 8)
PRESBYTERIANS
A conventicle reportedly of 200 to 300 people from
four counties (Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire,
and Warwickshire) which was meeting in Burton in
1663 was probably Presbyterian, and presumably met
with the connivance of Lord Paget, who was described
that year as a Presbyterian. The ejected ministers
Thomas Ford and Thomas Bakewell were imprisoned
for preaching at the conventicle. (fn. 9) Both were released
after 10 weeks and Bakewell continued to preach at a
conventicle at his house in Burton, although he was
occasionally harassed by the authorities. (fn. 10) A Presbyterian conventicle in the town was said in 1669 to be
'great', and in 1672 two licences for Presbyterians were
issued: Ford was licensed for the house of Richard
Clerke and Richard Swynfen was licensed for his own
house. (fn. 11) The conventicle continued after 1673, sometimes being forced to meet in the open air in an
attempt to avoid persecution. (fn. 12)
High Street Chapel Two Presbyterian or Congregational ministers were recorded at Burton in the early
1690s, and in 1708 a Presbyterian meeting house was
registered on the west side of High Street. (fn. 13) Together
with an adjoining house for the minister, it was
wrecked in 1715 by a 'High Church and Jacobite'
mob said to be more than 100 strong, who broke the
windows and burned the pews, including those in a
gallery. (fn. 14) After the meeting house had been repaired it
was again attacked, when a mob attempted to set a mad
bull among the worshippers. (fn. 15) The congregation was
said in 1717 to number 400, including 41 who had the
franchise in parliamentary elections. (fn. 16) Under a succession of Arian ministers the congregation presumably
dwindled, and it dissolved itself in 1803. Some of the
remnant may have re-formed as Independents shortly
thereafter: the chapel, house, and a schoolroom were
let by trustees to an Independent minister in 1807. (fn. 17)
Cross Street Chapel A group sought a Presbyterian
pastor in 1859, and in 1861, augmented by seceders
from High Street Congregational church, it opened a
United Presbyterian chapel on the east side of Cross
Street, near the junction with Station Street. (fn. 18) On the
union of the United Presbyterian Church and the
Presbyterian Church in England in 1876, the Cross
Street congregation became a part of the Presbyterian
Church of England, (fn. 19) and by 1924 it was known as
Trinity Presbyterian Church. (fn. 1) From 1967 the minister
was shared with the High Street Congregational
church, and in 1970 and 1971 proposals for amalgamating with that church on the Cross Street site were
being considered. (fn. 2)
In 1972, however, both Cross Street and High Street
chapels closed and the congregations moved to George
Street Methodist church, whereupon the former Presbyterian and Congregational churches amalgamated on
the creation of the United Reformed Church. The
George Street building remained open in 2000 as a
joint Methodist-United Reformed Church chapel. (fn. 3)
SALVATION ARMY
Salvation Army barracks were opened in 1886 in
Wetmore Road. (fn. 4) They were replaced in 1889 by a
citadel on the south side of Brook Street designed by
W. Dunford of Leytonstone (Essex). The citadel was
burnt down in 1942, (fn. 5) and in 1946 the Army registered
a former Primitive Methodist chapel in Mosley Street,
which remained in use as a citadel in 2000. (fn. 6)
SPIRITUALISTS
A group which objected to any designation registered
a meeting in the temperance hall, Union Street, in
1884; it was probably composed of Spiritualists, and
so described itself in 1920. The registration was
cancelled in 1964. (fn. 7) That group was joined in 1920
at the temperance hall by the Spiritual Evidence
Society, which had met in a variety of premises
since 1901. (fn. 8)
A room near the canal in Horninglow Road was
registered by the Spiritual Progressive Society in 1912.
In 1940 that body, then known as Horninglow Christian Spiritualist church, moved to William Street, and
in 1976 to Horninglow, where it continued to meet in
2000. (fn. 9) There were at least six other short-lived Spiritualist groups in the town between 1925 and 1967. (fn. 10)
UNITARIANS
In the later 18th century the Presbyterian chapel in
Burton had a succession of Arian-inclined pastors but
no Unitarian society was formed. A Unitarian society
conducted regular services in the town hall in 1901 but
they became infrequent and had moved to members'
houses by 1905, when they were revived and moved to
a meeting room in New Street. Nothing further is
known of this group. (fn. 11)
OTHER DENOMINATIONS
A non-denominational mission hall in Princess Street
was apparently opened for the Town Mission Band
by 1883; it was rebuilt in 1902, but had closed by
1924 when it was registered by Pentecostalists. (fn. 12) An
evening lecture in the town hall in 1910 was organized by a Labour Church but regular meetings
appear not to have developed. (fn. 13) The registration in
1923 of an oratory at the canal wharf on Horninglow Road by a group of otherwise undesignated
Christians was cancelled in 1964. (fn. 14) A Christian
Scientist meeting was held in Horninglow Street by
1925. (fn. 15) The registration of a room in Station Street
by Seventh Day Adventists in 1942 was cancelled in
1964. (fn. 16) Burton Renewal Fellowship began in 1976 as
an informal prayer fellowship in private houses. By
1995 it had two regular congregations, one meeting
in Friars Walk schools and the other at Stretton, but
the former ceased to meet c. 1998. (fn. 17)