Dewsbury, Moorlands Wesleyan Chapel and Schools, Boothroyd Lane

Built to seat 1100, with a gallery and an organ, the chapel was opened in 1877. The School consisted of a central room 64 by 36 feet, surrounded by thirteen classrooms. At the time of the 1940 Statistical Returns accommodation in the chapel was estimated as being 354. There were still thirteen classrooms, however.

All the Dewsbury chapels came together in 1971, at which point accommodation had reduced to 120, with only two classrooms. Does anyone have further information on whether these buildings were built as designed, their life and their fate?

George Mallinson (1832-1908) was a Dewsbury born architect whose main claim to fame was that he built the first stone church in New Zealand, at Port Lyttelton where he was resident from 1857 to 1864. Family history websites suggest that his father was buried at Queen Street Wesleyan Methodist, Morley, so he may have had a connection with Wesleyan Methodism himself. Stell noted that Mallinson had apparently refitted the Wesleyan chapel in Latham Lane, Gomersal eralier in the 1870s.

Grid Ref: SE238219

References:

The British Architect and Northern Engineer Vol. 6, 1876, p8

Statistical returns … as at July 1^st 1940. Manchester: Methodist Church, Department of Chapel Affairs, 1947

Statistical returns Part 1, 1972. Manchester: Methodist Church, Department of Chapel Affairs, 1972

Heritage New Zealand St Augustine’s Church (Anglican) https://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/3740

 Stell, Christopher An inventory of non-conformist chapels and meeting-houses in the North of England. London: HMSO, 1994  p252