Cheadle Charles Street Primitive Methodist chapel
Charles Street Cheadle ST10 1ED
Google Street View shows the double fronted chapel at 24 Charles Street as disused in both 2009 and July 2016. In 2018 it is in residential use.
The story goes back to the opening of the first chapel on March 11th 1849. It was brick built and measured 11 yds x 9 yds. Preachers at the opening included Revs Jukes and Pritchard. The major donor was James Allen of Onecote, who gave £100. Much of the rest was raised through the efforts of Misses Jackson, Swinson, Hammond and Robotham and Mesdames Hammond, Hodkinson, Huff. H Wheelere tells us about it in the Primitive Methodist magazine.
The Primitive Methodist Museum at Englesea Brook has several photographs and postcards labelled “Charles Street Cheadle Primitive Methodist chapel” together with three glass slides. We were unsure of the story behind them until we heard from Lizzie Young who was living in the chapel in October 2017; see the comment below for the full picture. This page has been redrafted to take account of the new information.
Photo 1 is of the chapel as first built, with the stone date tablet PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHAPEL A.D.1848. It is on the same site as the current building, as you can see from the former manse house to the left and the singular gateposts on the right.
Lizzie Young tells us that ” In the 1870s they built on the twiddly bits and porch at the front, seen in your other photos. They also extended backwards, considerably enlarging the chapel.…… the gates to the right of the Primitive chapel are outside the Manse. And the building attached to the left was the caretaker’s cottage. The Primitive Methodist Sunday school building was built onto the back of the caretaker’s cottage in the 1870s and connected to the main chapel via the large panelled doors/openings to the left in one of your interior shots.
The chapel was deconsecrated in the 1960s. “
On the other side of Charles Street, just north of the Primitive chapel, there is the current (2016) Methodist Church Hall which on Ordnance Survey maps from 1880 is labelled Sunday School (although that label is not directly on the building and could relate to other chapels in Chapel Street). It is in fact the former Wesleyan Sunday school, built behind the former Wesleyan chapel in Chapel Street.
Reference
Primitive Methodist magazine 1849 pages 310-311
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Staffordshire Archives (Record Office):
Cheadle Primitive Methodist Chapel, Charles Street, ref. D5865 & D7005 (pt).
Note: there may be other documents.
Thanks for the additional information Lizzie. That adds more clarity. I’m not sure which picture you mean as the 1999 chapel – I guess it is the 1909 one.
Hope the conversion goes well and that you can retain some original features and spirit of the building.
I recently found your two entries for Cheadle Primitive Methodist chapel and Charles Street, Cheadle, Staffordshire, and I thought I’d clarify your info. They are one and the same chapel.
I picked up a lot of this info because I live in the chapel, although I was pleased to find your website as it has photos I’ve not seen. (We’re converting it ourselves but not speedily!)
So firstly, the chapel was built in 1848 and looked as in your first photo. In the 1870s they built on the twiddly bits and porch at the front, seen in your other photos. They also extended backwards, considerably enlarging the chapel.
The interior Sunday school gathering is not our chapel. I’d guess it was the interior of the Wesleyan chapel that used to be around the corner in Chapel Street. This was built in the 18th C but was knocked down and rebuilt in the 1960s or 70s, once it had become the combined Methodist church.
The 1999 snapshot is, as noted, the (Sunday) school to the Wesleyan chapel and is diagonally opposite our chapel. It is not our chapel in 1999!
Other little bits of info – the gates to the right of the Primitive chapel are outside the Manse. And the building attached to the left was the caretaker’s cottage. The Primitive Methodist Sunday school building was built onto the back of the caretaker’s cottage in the 1870s and connected to the main chapel via the large panelled doors/openings to the left in one of your interior shots.
The chapel was deconsecrated in the 1960s. We have met locals that were married here. And as far as we can tell the back garden (your exterior shot of the gathering with the tree) was never a graveyard!
Regards,
Lizzie Young
The galleried interior view labelled “Sunday School Anniversary” is Chapel Street, Wesleyan Chapel, Cheadle.
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