Bowness WM Chapel was built of local stone in 1859 at a cost of £500. The site measured 44 feet by 48 feet and cost £66. There were 134 sittings in 1873.By 1883 it was considered to be too small and it was closed when the new chapel was built. The building was sold for £425 and the western portion converted into a dwelling. Apart from probable alterations to the entrance (note the break in the string course) the remainder of the building is little altered. This section was being used as a decorator’s workshop in 1982 but its present use, if any, is not apparent. The western gable has three long narrow round headed windows. With its two ashlar string courses and rusticated quoins, this building must have been very impressive when new. It must also have been one of the last Wesleyan chapels in Cumbria to use the Romanesque style before Gothic became the norm.
Sources
Cumbria Archives Service , Carlisle DFCM1/2/82-97 Carlisle District property schedules, 1862-1877
Wesleyan seating returns, 1873
Carlisle Library 1A287 Bowness Methodist Church, 1883 – 1883
Site visit, 8.7.2017
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