Hickling Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was opened in 1848. It measured 37 feet by 29 feet and cost £244.3.10d. The land cost nothing. Materials from the previous chapel were used in its construction and given that the old chapel was demolished the new one could well have been built on the same site.
By 1860 the original building and subsequent extensions and alterations had cost £292. In 1873 the chapel provided seating for 200 persons. This had fallen to 155 in 1911 (conversion from forms to pews?)
In 1940 the chapel was reported to measure 42 feet by 26½ and had seating for 124 persons in pews. There was also a schoolroom and two vestries or class rooms.
The chapel was situated at the junction of a side road leading westwards and the main village street. The chapel faced onto the main street and the schoolroom onto the side road (Grid ref SK691289)
Sources
John Rylands Library University of Manchester, Methodist Conference Archive Register of applications to build Nos 2167-3347, 23 September 1846 – 11 July 1850 No 3106, 5 April 1848
Leicestershire Record Office, N/M/NDD 1-15, Annual trust returns, Nottingham and Derby District 1860-1878
John Rylands Library University of Manchester, MAC Lawson Returns of Accommodation provided by Wesleyan Methodist Chapels and other Preaching Places, Melton Circuit 1873/499, 1881/565, 1891/612, 1901/625, 1911/591, 1931/598
John Rylands Library University of Manchester DDPD2 Returns of Accommodation provided by Wesleyan Methodist Chapels and other Preaching Places, Melton Circuit, 1931/598
John Rylands Library University of Manchester, DDPD1 Methodist Church Buildings: Statistical returns including seating accommodation as at July 1st 1940/694 (Melton Mowbray Circuit)
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In 18…a schoolroom was built and the chapel was renovated with the addition of a vestry, a pipe organ, a rostrum in place of the pulpit, and “Comfortable modern pews in place of benches”. These works cost £300.
A photograph taken around 1900 shows a rectangular building. There is a pediment on one end containing a plaque probably giving the name and date of the building. Each side is divided into panels, three on the long side two on the short, framed by projecting brickwork. Most of the panels contain a round headed window whose surround and hood moulding are in a paler material. The exception is the central panel on the long side which, unusually, contains the entrance within a flat roofed porch.
John Gill, The history of Wesleyan Methodism Melton Mowbray and the vicinity, Melton Mowbray, 1909 p. 100, image opposite p. 113
A photograph of the chapel before 1909 has been added. The entrance appears to have been moved since then.
I’ve added pictures and a location map of the chapel. In May 2022 it is for sale for offers around £675,000.
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