Ab-Kettleby Chapel was opened on 7 September 1843. The total cost of the project was £154 of which the land had accounted for £18. The chapel measured 30 feet by 20 feet and accommodated 130 hearers. In approving this scheme the Chapel Committee “advise that the walls be strengthened by half brick pillars”. By 1860 the original building and subsequent extensions and alterations had cost £150.
In 1851 the chapel provided 80 free and 60 other sittings, 140 in all. This figure rose to 170 in 1891 and then fell back to 116 in 1911, 116 all free in 1931 and 100 in 1940. In that year the chapel was reported to measure 36 feet by 20 feet. The seating was in pews and there was no gallery, There was also a schoolroom 21 feet by 20 feet and two other rooms. The building was situated on the west side of the road to Asfordby Hill, close to its junction with the main street.
Sources
John Rylands Library University of Manchester, Methodist Conference Archive Register of applications to build Nos 1804-2166, 7 Dec. 1842 – 9 July 1846 No 1891, 14 July 1843
The National Archives,1851 ecclesiastical census HO129/418/3/31
Whites Directory for Leicestershire, 1868, p 326
John Rylands Library University of Manchester, MAC Lawson Returns of Accommodation provided by Wesleyan Methodist Chapels and other Preaching Places, , 1873, p 57
John Rylands Library University of Manchester, DDPD1 Methodist Church Buildings: Statistical returns including seating accommodation as at July 1st 1940/694 (Melton Mowbray Circuit)
Leicestershire Record Office, N/M/NDD 1-15, Annual trust returns, Nottingham and Derby District 1860-1878
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Two photographs of the chapel, and attached Sunday School have been added. They were in Chapel Lane. As can be seen, the date stones differ from the written accounts which raises the question as to how far we can rely on visual dating evidence.
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