The deeds of the Unitarian Chapel of Belper are preserved in the Derbyshire Record Office in Matlock. The two most interesting are the Abstract of Title and the Conveyance for the chapel, both of which are inscribed by pen on several oversized sheets of thick paper pinned in the corner by a fancy stud.
Many of the records have been transcribed and are available on this website. However, the transcriptions are not complete as that would be an impossible task. Nevertheless, I hope you find something of interest and use in what I have achieved so far.
Access to Archives Index Number given as D1973 J/U and Catalogue number NRA 22983 Belper Unitarian Chapel. Reference numbers given below may have changed since I transcribed these records in 2004.
Reference Numbers of the Packet of Deeds are as follows:
D 1773 Unitarian Deeds (selection of the most useful items)
- D1773 J/U 1 Baptisms 1776-1779
- D1773 J/U 2 Belper Baptisms 1777-178?
- D1773 J/U 3-6 Baptisms including Strutts to 1858
- D1773 J/U 7 Burials [and also see other Unitarian Burials]
- D1773 J/U 9 Late Baptisms
- D1773 J/U 10/1 The Chapel: Abstract of Title 1789-1847
- D1773 J/U 10/2 The Chapel: Conveyance
- D1773 J/U 49/1 Loose Leaf, Dissenting Ministers
- D1773 J/U 67 The Will of William Jones, nail manufacturer and beerhouse keeper 1859-1860
Title deeds of the Strutt family deposited from the Strutt Estate Office
Miscellaneous Deeds
D3772/T19/8/1 - date: 1993 Chapel, cottage and premises, Field Row Belper; correspondence concerning gift of deeds (relating to conveyance of these premises by Edward Strutt and others to John Smith esq and the Reverend Lewis Lloyd 1849-1850) by Strutt Estate Office to the Belper Unitarian Chapel
D3772/E32/75 - date: 1857-1859 Correspondence re the whereabouts of Duffield Unitarian Chapel register of baptisms 1777-1806. Includes a list of Strutt births, 1780-1817 and a copy of An Act to amend the Act concerning Non-parochial registers and c, 1858 printed
J Strutt: Personal 1831, 1847-1869
D3772/E43/5/4 - date: 1838-1856 Correspondence re Unitarian Church including chapels in Lea and Belper.
PRESBYTARIANS & UNITARIANS: Baptisms 1777-1808
These are the baptisms at the Belper Unitarian Meeting house and/or chapel. The bundle is numbered D1973 JU/1-7 at the Matlock Record Office.
Two missing notebooks had been copied by one of the church ministers, and his copy exists on a fiche at the Record Office. I added this data to my own. There are some differences between the two sets of data (my transcripts from the actual books and Revd Lloyd's copy) but when in any doubt I have put both readings, just in case.
