In 1867 the Primitive Methodists commenced services here in a tent chapel which had cost £11. The site of the chapel was leased from the Earl of Carlisle in 1871 and bought outright in 1906. Their building, which had cost £300 opened in May 1870. It had 80 lettable and 80 free seats. Clesketts Chapel was closed and sold in 1932. Flooding and the subsequent closure of the mine meant that the only remaining members were living in Hallbankgate, 1½ miles away. They would worship in the “fine commodious” Wesleyan chapel there. The building is now in residential use.
There is little about he present structure to betray its former use. Perhaps the quions and the gate posts are rather too substantial for a domestic building of this size. The position of the gate posts suggests that entry was obtained through the side of the building, probably where the door is today and that the chapel presented a blank gable to the road.
Sources
Cumbria Archive Service, Carlisle, DFCM1/1/26 Carlisle Primitive Methodist Primitive Methodist station reports 1860 -1890
John Rylands Library, Manchester, Methodist District Records, Carlisle & Whitehaven PM District, Chapel Committee minutes, 7.4.1932
Cumbria Archive Service, Carlisle, DHN/C/421-3, lease of land 1871
Cumbria Archive Service, Carlisle, DHN/C/229/5 conveyance 1906
Site visit 6.3.2016
No Comments
Add a comment about this page