Welcome to Stannington Village
Places of Worship
For such a small village, Stannington seems to have had 4 major religions worshiping in its midst! Even now there are 3 churches/chapels within its borders. The earliest of these is Underbank Chapel. Before this villagers had to travel to Bradfield to worship.
Underbank Chapel
This is the oldest of the places of worship. This was created in 1652 when Richard Spoone left some land in his will to support a minister, so that services could be held locally (for the first time). At this time Anglicaism was out of favour and it was obvious that this chapel was to be either Presbyterian or Congregational.
In around 1740 the building became unfit for worship and the next year a chapel was built by Thomas Marriott (a Calvanistic dissenter) on the present site. In 1785 Unitarian beliefs were finally dopted when Edmond Gibson beacme minister. In 1742 the present building was built. It has changed very little on the outside.
Christ Church
Anglican worship had always been at Bradfield Church, it must have been a journey each week for parishenors. After the Napoleonic wars the government of the day allocated a million pounds towwards the building of more churches. Stannington was chosen as the site of one of these 'million act' churches. It was finally openned in 1830 and had cost under £3,000. The building was in Gothis style with a low bell-tower.
Knowle Top Methodist Church
A group of Methodists meeting at Stannington purchased the land at Knowle Top for the building of a chapel. The church was opened in 1822. This building fell into disrepair and a new chapel was built in 1971. Thi sis the present building. However a fire in the 1990's made the main church building unsafe and services were held in the school-rooms.
Roman Catholic
A church was built for Roman Catholics at Nethergate by the Revill family. This closed in 1929.
