Stoney Stratford, Wesleyan Chapel was built of brick with masonry dressings in 1844. The chapel was in the Romanesque style with a porch but owed more to the classical tradition. There was no decoration and even the date and name plaque found on most chapels was absent from its blank gable. The adjacent school was added between 1880 and 1898. It was a long narrow building with its entrance at the opposite side from the chapel’s. It was later extended backwards behind its more easterly section This building did, however, have a degree of decoration in the form of pilasters linked by string courses and echoed under the eaves on both sides of the building.
In 1873 chapel was reported to seat 219. This had fallen to 164 on a mixture of pews and forms in 1940 and 125 in 1970. In 1940 there was a school and one other room, a configuration which fits well with the “L” shaped building. More problematic is the 1970 report that the school seated 227 and there were two other room. The building remains in Methodist occupation and it would be good if a reader with access to the interior could report of the configuration of the accommodation and on the fixtures and fittings, especially any survivors from the early days.
Sources
John Rylands Library University of Manchester, MAC Lawson Returns of Accommodation provided by Wesleyan Methodist Chapels and other Preaching Places 1873/ No. 73 Newport Pagnell Circuit
John Rylands Library University of Manchester, MAC Lawson, Methodist Church Buildings: Statistical returns including seating accommodation as at July 1st 1940 No. 82 Wolverton and Bletchley Circuit
The Methodist Church Department of Chapel Affair, Statistical Returns made 6th December 1970 No. 2/29 Milton Keynes Circuit
OS 25 inch Nottinghamshire LXI.10, 1880, 1898. 1923
Stony Stratford Methodist Church (synthasite.com)
Site visit 30.03.2024
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