Central Baptist Church, Leicester
Central Baptist Church, Leicester
Central Baptist Church is a Grade II listed chapel on Charles Street, Leicester, the last surviving Baptist church in the city centre.
- Location
- Leicester, Leicestershire
- Country
- England
- County
- Leicestershire
- City / town
- Leicester
- Address
- Charles Street, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE1 1LA
- Postcode
- LE1 1LA
- Built
- 1830
- Architect
- William Flint
- Denomination
- Baptist Church
- Grade
- II
- Style
- Georgian Classical
- Materials
- Stuccoed facade over brick; slate hipped roof
- Grid reference
- SK 590 043
- Opening hours
- Interested parties can contact the church to arrange a visit for individuals, small or large groups.
- Access
- Accessible toilets in church. Level access to the main areas. Ramp or level access available on request
Overview
Historic England records a building of 1830 with a stuccoed two-storey front and parapet. First-floor pilasters support an entablature with cornice and a frieze of honeysuckle ornament. Four first-floor windows have round arches with moulded architraves; the slightly projecting end bays have rusticated ground-floor windows with shouldered architraves. At the centre two fluted Doric columns in antis support an entablature over a recessed entrance with a wide panelled door and rectangular fanlight. The body behind the facade is brick, under a slate hipped roof. Listing NGR is SK 59080 04322.
The Chapels Society identifies William Flint as architect of the Charles Street chapel, opened in 1831 for an offshoot of the Harvey Lane Particular Baptists. The congregation united with Belvoir Street in the 1940s as the United Baptist Church (the name under which it was first listed in 1973) and took the name Central Baptist Church in 1983 after a further union with Victoria Road. The interior has a gallery on four sides on slender columns. The church houses a William Carey museum: Carey was a member of this congregation before his mission to India.