Derby, Green Hill, St Peters Churchyard Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Derbyshire

Green Hill, St Peters Churchyard Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was built of brick in 1816 at a cost of £1100 and later sold to the Wesleyans for £700. They enlarged the building and inserted a gallery so that it would seat 800. Schoolrooms were built behind the chapel in 1824 and a small organ costing £100 was installed in 1853. More schoolrooms were added later. The seating capacity of the chapel had been reduced to 640 by 1873 but fell to 540 by 1901. In 1940 it had seating for 600 in pews. There were two schoolrooms and seven other rooms. By 1970 the word Central had been added to the name probably after the merger with the former Primitive Methodist chapel opposite, which had used the word in its name. There was seating for 600 on chairs. The school hall seated 225 and there were five classrooms. This suggests that part of the premises were no longer in Methodist use. The chapel was subsequently closed and is now occupied by a training and recruitment business.

Much of the façade has been concealed by a modern extension (images 1 & 2; was this done by the Methodists or a subsequent owner?) but sufficient is still visible to show that it was built in the classical style (image 3). The windows were round headed with large projecting keystones (images 5 & 7). The school buildings are varied and have been much altered over the years (images 6 & 8-10).

Sources

Bulmer’s Directory for Derbyshire, 1894-5

John Rylands Library University of Manchester, MAC Lawson Returns of Accommodation provided by Wesleyan Methodist Chapels and other Preaching Places, Derby, Green Hill Circuit 1873/597, 1891/621 1901/633, 1911/598, 1931/605

John Rylands Library University of Manchester, MAC Lawson Returns of Accommodation provided by Methodist Chapels and other Preaching Places, Derby South Circuit 1940/457

Nottinghamshire Record Office Returns of Accommodation provided by Methodist Chapels and other Preaching Places, 1970 Nottingham and Derby District, 22/9 Derby South Circuit

OS 1:500 plan of Derby 1880-2 sheet L13.2 and OS 25 inch map 1913/4 L13. ‘Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland National Library of Scotland – Map Images (nls.uk) ‘

Site visits October 2013, 13 June 2018, and 27.10.2022