Information about Laughton Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is scant. In 1851 a chapel built in 1839 was being used It had 100 free sittings and standing room for 40. It appears to have been replaced by another building erected in 1853 which, in 1873 only seated 62. Both rebuilding after such a short interval and downsizing on such a scale are unusual. There is no later mention of the chapel and it seems to have closed before 1881.
The exact locations of these chapels (if indeed there were two) has not been established. The images show a good candidate but it cold equally well have belonged to another denomination or had a secular use such as a reading room.
Sources
TNA HO129.409.1.6 Ecclesiastical census, 1851
White’s Directory of Leicestershire, 1863, p 576
The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel Committee in pursuance of a minute of the Conference of 1873, London 1875, p 9
Site visit 3.11.2018
Laughton Wesleyan Methodist Chapel(s), Leicestershire
Possible Wesleyan Chapel at Laughton, 3.11.2018
Possible Wesleyan Chapel at Laughton, south side, 3.11.20180366
Possible Wesleyan Chapel at Laughton, window 3.11.2018
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The chapel was mentioned in the 1877 Directory but is absent from later issues. It therefore seems likely that it closed around this time. By 1873 there was another Wesleyan chapel about a mile away in Mowsley and it may be that there were too few Wesleyans in this area to support two chapels so close together. It has not been possible to establish where the chapel stood but the images illustrate what must be a good candidate. The building has the typical chapel footprint of a rectangular building entered through a porch in the centre of one end. Unusual features of this building are the chimney and the use of the Tudor style for the openings. At present the building appears to be occupied in conjunction with nearby property.
Sources
Returns of accommodation provided in Wesleyan Methodist chapels and other preaching places obtained by The Wesleyan Chapel Committee in pursuance of a minute of the Conference of 1873, London 1875, No 77
White’s Directory of Leicestershire, 1877, p 265
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