Warsop Vale
Warsop Vale Mission Church

History

The small village of Warsop Vale was built by the Staveley Coal & Iron Company in 1900 to accommodate the miners and their families who worked at the Warsop Main Colliery, which was sunk and opened in 1889. By 1902 just 160 terraced houses on the north side of Carter Lane, a road linking the town of Warsop to Shirebrook, had been erected. The plan was to build around 500 set within a large block of land and divided into six streets. All the houses were identical with the front door opening onto the street, giving access to the two-up and two-down interior. These building are extant but individualised with a range of modern PVC doors and windows and brick extensions at the rear. New housing developments now surrounded the old streets.

It was for the benefit of these miners and their families that in 1902 Sir Richard Fitzherbert provided a corrugated iron building for use as a Church of England Mission Church under the care of the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Warsop. The building on the south side of Carter Lane was opened on Sunday 3 January 1903. It remained until about 1959/1960 when it is said to have blown down some time after it had been damaged by a fire. In May 1902 the Primitive Methodists had opened a similar chapel, built a few hundred yards away on land leased from Sir Richard Fitzherbert.

Under the Rev Thomas Hudson (curate in charge 1908-16) a number of societies were formed: Mothers' Union, Girls' Friendly Society and the Warsop branch of the Church of England Men’s Society. The church also had a Mutual Benefit Society, a Boys’ Brigade Company and a few marriages took place. A font was known to exist so presumably some baptisms took place. However most rites of passage ceremonies were conducted at the Mother Church and so all ceremonies were recorded in the registers of the church of St. Peter and St. Paul.

In 1919 another church building was erected near to the church to meet the social needs of the community, this was simply known as the Institute.