Here you can see a list of the most recently added comments on this site. You can add your own comments at the bottom of any page on the site.
In the light of further research the above needs to be corrected. The schoolrooms reported in 1940 were in fact in the former chapel in High Street. The College Street chapel measured 49 feet by 36 feet 7 inches and seated 248 people on the ground floor. The gallery was on all four sides and seated 156. There were two vestries or classrooms Source John Rylands Library University of Manchester DDPD1Methodist Accommodation returns, 1940 No 686
Further research has established that when College Street Chapel was opened in 1897 this building became a Sunday school and remained in use well into the twentieth century. In 1940 it had two school halls. One measuring 33 feet by 28 feet was probably the original schoolroom on the ground floor and the other measuring 47 feet by 28 feet was probably the original chapel building. It had a gallery 28 feet by 14 feet. Source John Rylands Library University of Manchester DDPD1Methodist Accommodation returns, 1940 No 686
To aid your page we have now converted the Chapel into Harley’s Bistro & Cafe Bar which will open mid July 2019
Shepshed Field Street Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was built in 1875/7. In 1891 the seating capacity was said to have been 360. Ten years later it had fallen to 286. What had changed? Or was the 1891 figure an error? Was this when the pews reported in 1941 were installed? The capacity continued at this level until 1931 but had risen slightly to 300 by 1941. At this date the chapel measured 51 feet by 37 feet and there were two halls (37 feet by 21 feet and 26 feet by 21 feet) and a vestry. Although the façade of the 1875 chapel has been obscured (?or replaced) by the modern frontage the side walls are still much as built and the surviving quoins and a damaged Corinthian capital suggest the original building had an impressive classical façade. The side walls also display six well preserved memorial stones, one of which, unusually, was written in verse. Sources John Rylands Library University of Manchester, MAC Lawson Returns of Accommodation provided by Wesleyan Methodist Chapels and other Preaching Places, 1891/618/, 1901/630, 1911/595 John Rylands Library University of Manchester DDPD2Wesleyan Accommodation returns, 1931/602 John Rylands Library University of Manchester DDPD1Methodist Accommodation returns, 1940/697 Site visit 17.4.2019
Hi, I do not have any pictures of this church but can hopefully help shed some light on the history of the building. I am currently researching buildings in Liverpool that were bombed during WW2. A large volume of the rubble from these bombings ended up deposited on Crosby Beach, Liverpool and I believe this is what happened here as I have found gravestones at the beach which were from this church. If you want more info feel free to message me on twitter, my account is @archaeobeach.
Wesleyan Accommodation Returns
The 1873 Accommodation Returns were the first in a series. Subsequent volumes were produced for 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, and 1931. There is a full set at John Rylands Library, University of Manchester under the reference MAC Lawson. These volumes are especially useful where the survival of local records has been poor. In particular, substantial changes in seating capacity often serve to indicate change in the building: an extension, the insertion of a gallery, or even a complete rebuild. These publications were based on information provided by each circuit on printed forms. These forms contained four sections or schedules numbered I to IV. The printed summaries are based on Schedule I. Schedule I Returns showing the number of sittings provided in Wesleyan Methodist Chapels in the [name] Circuit, [date]. The entries were arranged in columns for when built; if enlarged, when; number of additional sittings obtained by each enlargement; name of chapel; township; parish; county; average number of inches allowed per sitting; the number of sittings available for letting; the number of free sittings; the number of sittings set apart for children (this figure could include some of the free sittings as well as dedicated child seats which means that in some cases the total of the three figure could exceed the actual number of sittings available); total number of sittings. Schedule II Returns showing the number of sittings provided in Wesleyan preaching places not being the property of the connexion The entries were arranged in columns for when first acquired; name; kind of building; township; parish; county; average number of inches allowed per sitting; the number of sittings available for letting; the number of free sittings; the number of sittings set apart for children (this figure could include some of the free sittings as well as dedicated child seats which means that in some cases the total of the three figure could exceed the actual number of sittings available); total number of sittings. Schedule III Returns showing Wesleyan chapels or preaching places in course of erection. The entries were arranged in columns for when would the building be occupied; name; kind of building; township; parish; county; average number of inches allowed per sitting; estimated number of sittings; whether the new building will supersede one in existence or be additional. Schedule IV Return showing all Wesleyan chapels and preaching places given up since [in 1873 this date was 30 March 1851 ie the date of the national ecclesiastical census now held at the National Archives under the reference HO129 and available as a fee download. Subsequently it was the date of the previous returns] Part 1 Chapels and preaching places superseded by new erections or other preaching places Part 2 Chapels and preaching places not superseded by new erections or other preaching places. The entries were arranged in columns for name; kind of building; township; parish; county; estimated number of sittings; name of new chapel or preaching place or reasons why abandoned or given up. The only complete set of returns is for the year 1931 and is held at John Rylands Library, University of Manchester under the refence DDPD2. They are filed in the same order and use the same numbering system as the printed summary and are bound in four volumes: DDPD2/1 Circuits 1-204 DDPD2/2 Circuits 205-391 DDPD2/3 Circuits 392-584 DDPD2/4 Circuits 585-764 Copies of the returns for this and other years occasionally survive locally, often tucked into volumes of Trust/Property Schedules
From a letter to the Trustees I have recently rediscovered, it would appear that 19, Hardres Street remained in Methodist ownership until 1976 when the Trustees were served with a Buildings Preservation Notice, and the building was subsequently listed. Ignore the previous note about covenants.
Inside the building which replaced this one there is a painting off the exterior dated 1992. This was the year the foundation stone for the new building was laid so we may take it that the painting represents the building as it appeared just before demolition. A noticeable feature is the absence of the spire. Was it ever built and, if so, when was it taken down?
For further details on this building please see my contribution titled “Carlisle, Church Street, later Caldewgate WM Chapel, Cumberland”. The building to the right of this engraving is the Temperance Hall
I took services here for a few years when I was Chair of Cymru District of the Methodist Church 2001-2013. The service was at 2 p.m. on Sundays and 6 elderly members attended There was no organist so we sang the hymns unaccompanied. The secretary was Mr. Raymond Hughes who told me the chapel was erected following the 1914-18 War. It was made in numbered sections to make it easy to construct. I seem to remember the cost was £100. Sadly it closed a few years ago.
My great grandfather John Sumners was, according to his obituary, the superintendent of the Steele Street Sunday School for 19 years. He died in 1924, so the years would have been 1905-1924. I hunted a long time to decide that this little house was the church. Now I am delighted to have stumbled upon your site, confirming my find. Thank you. Sharon in Niagara Falls, ON
Bishop Lane Chapel was built in 1815. In 1851 it had 296 free and 1166 other sittings. By 1860 the original building and subsequent extensions and alterations had cost £4800. In1868 it had seating for 1600. In 1873 the chapel provided seating for 1260 persons. Schools were erected on a site east of the chapel in 1873 (See https://www.mywesleyanmethodists.org.uk/content/topics-2/education/leicester-bishop-street-wesleyan-schools-leicestershire). In 1940 the chapel had seating for 900 in pews and there was one schoolroom and seven other rooms. It continues to be used as a Methodist place of worship. Sources TNA HO129/417/1/13 Leicestershire etc. Record Office, N/M/NDD 1-15, Annual trust returns, Nottingham and Derby District 1860-1878 Whites Directory for Leicestershire, 1868, p 177 Wesleyan seating returns, 1873, p 57 Leicestershire etc. Record Office 23D67 Leicester building plans no 4062 Methodist Accommodation returns, 1940 Site visit 16.3.2019
The building to the left (beyond the tree and on the corner of Staffordshire Street) was the original manse for Hardres Street. Although long sold, the restrictive covenants were still in place in the 1970s I seem to recall!
I am a descendant of Martha Sussanah Cownley. Thanks for putting this history together. Is there a picture of Joseph Cownley or any family members?
I omitted one of my sources from the above: Leicestershire, etc Record Office, Building bye law plan no. 13187 of 1879
I have just been to visit a retired local preacher and his wife who showed me a poster for the opening a chapel in our circuit (though now closed) which advertised the Reverend Rattenbury as the preacher.
Very little remains of this building. The newel caps from the perimeter wall have been reused at the front of the new building and there are several foundations stones set into a wall at the back of the site,
Thanks Janice; I have now moved the chapel to the next door County!
I think this chapel was just inside Staffordshire, not Shropshire. The border is very close, but the crossroads just next to the chapel are shown on O.S. maps as in Staffordshire.
Great to see the Lower Caversham, New Wesleyan School Chapel and the foundation stone of July 15th 1891. My Grand Mother and her parents Mr and Mrs McIlroy (Department store in Broad St.) were members here and I have a Book of Wesley’s Hymns and new supplement which was presented to my Great Mother on the day of the dedication.
The original Chapel was pulled down and replaced on the same site by the new one of 1865, which still stands.
Camborne is the correct spelling of this Cornish town.
My great grandfather was Rev John Henry Sholl
The family story is that John Wesley preached from my Great (x3) grandfather Joseph Salkeld’s farm in Gamblesby & that he gave the land on which the chapel was built in 1784 & laid the foundation stone Joseph became a preacher of the Methodist persuasion & in 1781 Joseph Salkeld of Alston and a fellow preacher Stephen Brunskill obtained permission of the Mayor of Kendal to preach from the old stone stepe on the Market Place. Salkeld at 1 o ‘clock and Brunskill t 4.0 o’clock. – thus began the first established Wesleyan Methodist cause in Kendal
I was born in 1932 and used to go to Ashby Rd Chapel as a child. My brother (born 1922) was very engaged with the Young Mens’ group along with Ernie, Eric and the other members of the Wright family. Mr, Hallam was the Superintendent and he read out the notices on Sundays with some difficulty because he was scarcely literate, but utterly honest and kind.
I was trying to explain to a friend how ‘The Anniversary’ was organised in all the Methodist chapels in the town..Weslyans, Baptists, etc. and how important it was, with extra chairs being placed all down the aisles on Sunday evenngs. At about 8 or 10 I gave up on Sunday School – and indeed religion generally – when the teacher told us the Earth was 6000 years old when I already had some knowledge of paleontology and geology.
However, these were enormously formative years for me and the sense of community and fellowship is never totally lost. The chapel itself was abandoned and demolished many years ago.
You can also see a list of the latest pages added to the site.
View latest pages
