Binchester Wesleyan Methodist chapel

Many thanks to Sue Gray for providing the postcard of Binchester Wesleyan Methodist chapel and the picture of the former chapel in 2023.

Many villages had more than one chapel provided for different sorts of Methodists..  In Binchester, the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels were practically next to each other, on opposite sides of the north end of Peel Street.

Ordnance Survey maps tell the story:

• 1856 – no chapels – and no Binchester Blocks
• 1897 – only the Primitive Methodist chapel exists with  a footprint showing a larger block at the rear.
• 1920 – the Primitive Methodist chapel is still marked at the northern end of Peel Street with the rear part of the building labelled Sunday School – and only a few yards away at the northern end of Pitt Street is the newly built Wesleyan Methodist chapel.
• 1939 – both are labelled as Methodist church.
• 1962 – the Prim chapel is labelled as Binchester Full Gospel Church (Pentecostal) . The Wesleyan chapel is unlabelled.
• 1990 –  the Prim chapel is labelled Community Centre and the Wesleyan chapel labelled Factory.

On street view from  2009, the Wesleyan chapel still exists, apparently in residential use. The former Prim chapel is not visible from the road, but the name board for the Community Centre is still there – and a building with a very similar footprint is still there on satellite view in 2023.

Sue Gray’s photograph shows the Wesleyan chapel in residential use in 2023