Building record 179/23/0 - Methodist Chapel, Hospital Street

The earliest map that this chapel is shown upon is the Ordnance Survey First Edition 1:2500 map of 1876 (1). A methodist Society existed in Nantwich as early as 1777 (2), in which year, and for the following thirty years the members worshipped at the old Baptist Chapel in Barker Street (2). John Wesley preached in the town on two occasions, in 1779 and 1781 (2). A property was purchased in Hospital Street in 1807, and a chapel (based upon the model of Congleton Chapel) and two preachers houses were built at a cost of 3, 300 pounds (2). The Hospital Street chapel, which was the largest in the town, and capable of accomodating more than a thousand people, was improved in 1858 at a cost of 400 pounds, and in 1876 the chapel was enlarged by the addition of a new front, re-pewed and beautified. This two storeyed chapel is built in red brick with stone dressings, and has an internal tiered horse shoe gallery.
Built in 1808 for the society formerley meeting in the General Baptist Chapel [CSMR 179/55/0], is said to have copied the design of one recently built in Wagg Street, Congleton (4).

AOC Archaeology Group (Chester), 2009, Methodist Church, Hospital Street, Nantwich, Cheshire, An Archaeological Evaluation Report, R2887 (Client Report). SCH5188.

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, Sheet LVI 13 1876 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

<2> Hall J, 1883, A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich or Wich-Malbank in the County Palatine of Chester, p400-1 Hall J 1883 (Book). SCH80.

<3> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, VolA 124 p24 (Report). SCH1934.

<4> 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 104 (Book). SCH4548.