WHERE      
LEICESTER HAS
WORSHIPPED


Introduction, Page 4/5

Sharing or hiring buildings has generally occurred with the faiths that are more recent arrivals in Leicester. In particular are those from the Caribbean, America, and through immigration, religions from Eastern Europe and North Africa as well as Asia. In fact, the 2001 census shows that even by that year Leicester had a larger diversity of religions than anywhere outside London. The faiths sharing accommodation are not shown on the following lists (essentially only ones with their own premises) but quite possibly in the future some may well move into buildings of their own and so add to the number of places of worship in Leicester.


Information for the lists has been taken from many sources. The most reliable information comes directly from the churches either by personal contact or from booklets often produced to celebrate an anniversary of their foundation - the larger ones are shown in the bibliography. Contemporary newspaper reports on the opening of a church or laying of foundation stones have often given details of a church’s origins. Other sources include church records deposited in the County records office, historical maps and various local history publications. (For a list of churches with genealogical records see publication ‘Family Forebears’ by Jerome Farrell.)
The internet has produced information on the origins of some churches and also provided pieces of planning history held by the local council. Planning history has proved a useful source whenever a definite opening date has not been available, especially for converted buildings. In these cases the date when the local authority gave permission to change the use of a building to religious purposes is usually the one entered on the lists.
Trade directories have also proved very useful and have sometimes been the only way of knowing that a place of worship existed. This is especially true with mission halls which may have been entered only on one occasion. Unfortunately, although the directories give us an approximate date when the building was in use, they are not always up to date. There was sometimes a delay of a few years before an entry was made and an entry may still appear in some editions after closure. This has contributed to the many circa (c.) dates being used in the lists.
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Where Leicester Has Worshipped © 2008 Andrew Moore, Laurel House Publishing.