Grimshaw Street Church, Preston

URPG 1/1 Registers

URPG 1/2 Church Minute books

URPG 1/3 Church membership

URPG 1/4 Financial records

URPG 1/5 Church property

URPG 1/6 Church organisations

URPG 1/7 School

URPG 1/8 Miscellaneous

• <corpname>Grimshaw Street Independent Church, 1808-1871, Preston, Lancashire</corpname>
• <corpname>Grimshaw Street Independent Church, 1871-1972, Preston, Lancashire</corpname>
• <corpname>Grimshaw Street Independent Church, 1972-, Preston, Lancashire</corpname>

The first chapel in Grimshaw Street opened in 1808. Its congregation was a group of non-conformists who had with the Revd W Manning Wilson left the Unitarian Chapel in Church Street to establish their own Independent church. Although the building was enlarged to accommodate over 500 people in 1817 it was decided in 1856 that a new Chapel was required. The old building was pulled down and the present one opened in December 1859.

One of the first Sabbath Schools in Preston was established quite early on and in 1835 land was obtained on the south side of the Chapel to extend the burial ground and build a school room. This was extended to a second storey ten years later and was deemed capable of accommodating between 500 and 600 children and their teachers. New schoolroom buildings were erected in 1881 and the graveyard was flagged and made into a playground. A day school operating under the principles of the British and Foreign School Socitey was opened in 1868

In 1871 The Independent Church became a Congregational Church and in 1972 as a result of the national union with the Presbyterian Church became Grimshaw Street United Reformed Church