The
United Reformed
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Origins and history
The United Reformed Church resulte ...
(formerly
Congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
) Church is a congregation in
Stamford, Lincolnshire, based in a late-
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
building situated on Star Lane.
History of the site
The current church stands on land purchased in 1719 following the destruction in 1714 of an earlier, late seventeenth century chapel in nearby St Paul’s Street by a
Jacobite mob.
[Royal Commission on Historical Monuments.''The Town of Stamford''. London, 1977.] The new chapel, constructed in 1720, held 300 worshippers but was itself demolished in 1819 to make way for the present place of worship. Until 1923, when a small seventeenth century building on the west side of Star Lane was demolished, entry to the lane was extremely narrow and the view of the church from the south thus far less obvious than it appears today.
The present building
The present church was erected over a few months in 1819 “on a large scale to reflect its increasing respectability” seating 800; it cost £1,800.
It was constructed in red brick (a rarity in stone-built Stamford) on an
ashlar plinth, four bays long by three wide, with a slate roof. All the windows are arched, the upper ones containing their original Georgian glazing bars, while the lower range contain more recent
Victorian fenestration. The church has a classical interior with a gallery around three sides supported by
Doric Doric may refer to:
* Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece
** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians
* Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture
* Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode
* Doric dialect (Scotland)
* Doric ...
columns, a corniced
stucco ceiling and nineteenth century box pews.
The entrance, off a small yard to the ‘right’ of the building is via “a Tudorish gateway” erected in 1862, made from a section of the old Cornmarket arcade that stood in Broad Street in front of
Browne's Hospital.
[
]
The Church today
The building’s name was changed following the merger of the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Church in England and Wales
The Congregational Union of England and Wales brought together churches in England and Wales in the Congregational tradition between 1831 and 1966.
The Congregational churches emerged from the Puritan movement, each church operating independently ...
in 1972.[
The building is a Grade II ]Listed Building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
The Stamford congregation is part of the East Midlands Synod of the United Reformed Church in England. Services are led by the Minister, The Revd Jane Campbell. A variety of special services are organised, including services on Sunday at 10.45am and 6.30pm.
Stamford URC is part of the Stamford Street Pastors initiative and of the Stamford Churches Together group. The congregation manages the nearby Congregation Hall in Broad Street.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:United Reformed Church, Stamford
Churches in Stamford, Lincolnshire
Stamford
Churches completed in 1820