Derby, London Road, Wesleyan Methodist chapel later Queen’s Hall Wesleyan Mission, Derbyshire

London Road Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built of brick but the date of construction has yet to be established. It was extant by 1873 when it seated 900. This figure had fallen to 880 by 1891 and to 838 by 1931. In 1940 this chapel had seating for 835 on chairs. There were three schoolrooms and fourteen other rooms. By 1970 the accommodation had been further reduced: the chapel seated 793, the one schoolroom 570, and there were nine classrooms.

The chapel was built on a plot of land adjacent to canal street. Over time, and beginning at the back of the site, it acquired the adjacent site which originally had two houses and their outbuildings. The land was gradually filled with buildings, the last being Queens Chambers which fronts onto London Road and was probably built about the time of the name change. The OS map of 1913-4 shows the chapel on the Canal Street corner with a schoolroom at right angles behind and a pair of semidetached houses facing London Road making up a rectangular plot. In 1970 it was said that the chapel was opened in 1926. This was probably the year when it ceased to be a Wesleyan Methodist chapel and became Queen’s Hall Mission.

The photographs provide a visual tour of the buildings on this densely built up site . Moving in an anti-clockwise direction the first thing the visitor notices is the massive brick structure which has been built in front of the chapel façade (image 01). Was it built in the last years of the mission or by the new owners? Moving down Canal Street the next feature is the south wall of the original chapel. It is a rather severe Gothic style with tall lancet windows set between buttresses and surrounded by masonry. There is a decorated panel at gallery level and an arch of alternating blue and white bricks above the masonry arches (02). Passing down Canal street the next structure was probably used by the Sunday school and other later buildings (03-06). Following these brings the viewer back to London Road and Queen’s Chambers (07). This is perhaps the most interesting building on the site and the detail repays closer inspection (08-09)

Since the closure of the mission, the buildings have had various uses. At present the former chapel is used as a conference and banqueting suite, some of the school buildings at the back are “Ruth’s Place” and Queens Chambers has two shops. The owner of one, Brenda’s Café, told me that the upper floors are being converted for residential use: hence the building work at roof level visible on image 7.

Sources

Bulmers 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 Mission Circuit 1940/458

Nottinghamshire Record Office Returns of Accommodation provided by Methodist Chapels and other Preaching Places, 1970 Nottingham and Derby District, 22/10 Derby Mission Circuit

Site visits 13 June 2018 and 29.10.2022