Building record MDR9714 - Central Methodist Church, Chapel Street, Belper

The earlier chapel lay immediately to the north of the present church, on approximately the site of no. 16 Chapel Street. It is shown on an early 19th century map of Belper as 'Old Chapel pulled down', with the present building marked 'New Methodist Chapel'. A burial ground is depicted between the chapel and the road. (1) Extract from White's Directory (1857): "The Wesleyan Chapel, Chapel Street, is a handsome stone building, erected in 1807, and will seat 1,400 persons. In 1841, a large school-room was erected behind the chapel, at which 100 children attend, and on Sunday, 200. In 1844, an organ was placed in the gallery behind the pulpit, and two large burial grounds are attached, with a house for the minister. The whole cost has been about £5,500." (2) Later in the 19th century the burial ground extended to the rear of the Sunday School. (3) The Central Methodist Church is a Grade II building built c. 1835. It is a stone chapel of two storeys constructed from ashlar with a symmetrical façade that is approached from the street through the churchyard. The interior is modernized save for an original gallery on three sides with a panelled front that is supported on posts. There is a fine organ and many memorial tablets and monuments. (4) The 19th century ashlar eastern boundary wall, gate piers and late 19th century cast iron gates to the churchyard of the Central Methodist Church are Grade II structures. (5) Three monuments to the Bourne family on the south side of the entrance gates in the churchyard of the Central Methodist Church are early 19th century monuments. (6) The chapel, a large square building, opened in 1825, replaced the one registered in 1798. The walls are of squared stone with an ashlar front and the hipped roof, formerly slate, is now tiled. The east front is of five bays with a three-bay pedimented centre, porch with pilasters and pediment, and two tiers of plain sash windows. The rear wall has a later polygonal projection partly covering the sites of two former windows. West of the chapel is a brick Sunday-school dated 1841. (7) The present Central Methodist Church dates from 1807. (8)