Coleorton Baptist (Now A House)
Coleorton Baptist Chapel was built in The Rowlands, just inside the Swannington parish boundary on land purchased in 1873. As such it is much closer to the main residential areas of Coleorton than Swannington.
The reason for the location was that the Beaumonts of Coleorton Hall were staunch supporters of the Church of England. They did all they could to restrict the progress of nonconformists. However, while the Beaumont family controlled Coleorton they did not control Swannington. The local Baptists therefore built their chapel in Swannington.
In 1954 Miriam Measey and Paul Ballard became the first couple to marry their under the chapel’s own licence.
After the chapel closed around 2003 it was sympathetically converted into a house.
The former Coleorton Baptist Chapel now a house
The former Coleorton Baptist Chapel in The Rowlands, Swannington
The former Coleorton Baptist Chapel just inside the Swannington parish boundary
1903 Ordnance Survey map of Swannington, showing the chapel just inside the Swannington parish boundary
Coleorton Baptist Pulpit - photograph John MacDonald
Four local men were listed on the First World War memorial in the chapel.
Alfred Clifford
- Alfred was born in 1897 into a coal mining family living in Rotten Row, Coleorton (near the former Primitive Methodist Chapel and current sub post office). Ancestors from Newbold, Osgathorpe and Swannington.
- In 1911 Alfred was 14 and a “pony driver down pit” at Coleorton Colliery (now Coleorton Wood, Pitt Lane).
- Alfred Clifford was Private 16638 in the 1st Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment.
- Alfred was 18 when killed in action in Belgium and is buried at Poelcapelle British Cemetery, Langemark-Poelkapelle, Arrondissement Ieper, West Flanders (West-Vlaanderen), Belgium.
- Alfred’s mother, Mary, was paid his £6 4s 7d wages and after the war received a £3 gratuity.
Samuel Thomas Berkin
- Samuel Thomas was born in 1895 into a Coleorton coal mining family, several branches of whom moved to Swannington. Ancestors were from Ashby, Findern (Derbyshire), Coleorton and Swannington.
- In 1911 Samuel Thomas 16 was living with his father James, mother Matilda and three brothers and three sisters at Ivy Leigh Cottages, St George’s Hill, Swannington. Samuel Thomas was a Furnace Labourer at a Waggon Works (probably Stablefords, now the Springboard Centre near Coalville clocktower).
- Samuel Thomas enlisted in Coalville and was Guardsman 19060, 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards,
- Samuel Thomas Berkin was 20 years old when he died 27th September 1915 and buried at Loos-en-Gohelle, Departement du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.
- Awarded British War Medal and Victory Medal.
- After the death of Samuel Thomas his outstanding wages of £4 7s 9d were paid to his father James, who also received a gratuity of £5 10s after the war.
Read more about the Berkin family in Swannington.
Ernest Platts
- Ernest was born 1896 into a coal mining family living in Coleorton.
- Shortly after Ernest was born the family moved to Doe Lea, Ault Hucknall (about halfway between Chesterfield, Derbyshire and Mansfield, Nottingham) where his father, died in 1899.
- In 1911 Ernest aged 15 was a pony driver underground. His brothers were also miners, Robert 17 was an underground haulage engine driver and Arthur 24 was a hewer. There must have been lots of washing for their mother Frances.
- At some stage Ernest returned to the Coleorton area and enlisted in Coalville.
- Ernest was Private 55141 in the 10th Battalion, Notts and Derby Regiment (Sherwood Foresters).
- Ernest Platts was 21 when he was killed in action in France on the 13th July 1917 and buried at Sunken Road Cemetery, Fampoux, Departement du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.
- After the death of Ernest his outstanding wages of £2 4s 11d were paid to his mother, who also received a gratuity of £6 after the war.
Albert Essex
- Albert was born in Coleorton in 1897. His parents, Albert and Elizabeth, had both been born and brought up in Limby Hall, Swannington.
- In 1911 Albert 13 was living in Highfields, Snibston with his coal mining family. Albert worked underground as a coal mine door boy.
- Albert enlisted in Coalville and was Private 240940 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment
- Albert Essex was 20 when killed in action 7th October 1917 in Belgium, he was buried at Tyne Cot Memorial – Zonnebeke, Arrondissement Ieper, West Flanders (West-Vlaanderen), Belgium
- After the death of Albert his outstanding wages of 4 pounds, 18 shillings and 9 pence were paid to his mother Elizabeth who also received a gratuity of 14 pounds after the war.
Coleorton Baptist war memorial - photograph John MacDonald