Building record 4484/0/0 - Englesea Brook Methodist Church

Primitive Methodist Chapel built in 1828 and extended to the front and much altered in 1832. A Sunday school was erected alongside in 1914. Major repairs and partial conversion to a museum of Primitive Methodism were undertaken in 1983-6. The original structure had thin walls of 9 inch brickwork with low rectangular windows in the side and rear walls which were visible internally during the latest repairs. In 1832 the front was brought forward by 7 feet, an external skin of 4.5 inch brickwork was added to the side walls for half their former length, and the earlier windows altered.
The front wall of 1832 is gabled with two tiers of hung ash windows and a reset or renewed tablet dated 1828. Inside is a rear gallery of 1832 supported by two marble columns and having three ranks of contemporary box-pews. The pulpit and other fittings date from the late 19th century (1).
The chapel is dated on stone which reads PRIMITIVE/METHODIST/CHAPEL/1828. The school is dated on stone which reads HUGH BOURNE/MEMORIAL SCHOOL/1914. Full architectural description in (2).

<1> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME), 1994, An Inventory of Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses in the North of England, Cheshire Number 141 (Book). SCH4548.

<2> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, /3/50 (Report). SCH1934.