Still standing at the bottom of Chapel Street, this Primitive Methodist Chapel opened in 1864. It was very small, seating only 50 people. It closed for worship in 1965 and is now a house.
Thanks to Hilary Brash of Downley Local History Group for telling the story. Download the two part article below.
The picture of the Sunday School is taken from part 2 of the account. Hilary tells us: From left to right, the back row were:
- Peggy Mines;
- David Hawkins (the son of Arthur, and soon to be a Sixth Form prefect at RGS);
- an unknown young lady;
- Arthur Hawkins (The Chapel’s Steward, not ordained, who died in 1962);
- Ethel Hawkins, his wife (‘a lovely soul, very caring’);
- Leslie Brown (who was blind, and ran the village shop);
- Leslie Brown’s son Norman Brown, aged 10 or 11, in Cub Scout uniform. Norman went on to become an Anglican priest: now retired and in his 80s, he ‘realises how much [he] was influenced (for good) at The Chapel’.
Comments about this page
I’ve now added part 2 of the story of the chapel prepared by Hilary Brash and the Downley Local History Group. It includes an evocative picture of the Sunday school from the 1940’s that is reproduced on this page.
I’ve added the first part of a history of Primitive Methodism in Downley prepared by Hilary Brash.
From around 1942–1950, I lived at Downley village, near High Wycombe, my family switched from the local Anglican Church to the former Primitive Methodist Chapel, now long closed although the building is still there at the bottom of Chapel Street and is now a private residence. There was also a former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel known popularly as “Sunnybank” but now designated Downley Methodist Church Moor Lane and still open for worship etc.
As a young lad there seemed to be an intense rivalry between the chapels and although formally united in 1932 there was little co-operation between the two. I am now over 80 and a retired Anglican priest but I realise how much I was influenced (for good) at the Chapel and later when we moved to Windsor Methodist Church. I have somewhere a short history of the Sunnybank Chapel, but I cannot find anywhere a reference to the Primitive Methodist Chapel. It would be good to see any information languishing in the archives which could be passed on to the village museum housed in the former School at the top end of Chapel Street, I could add one or two comments of my own recollections. It is interesting to note that two other chapels listed are still open viz: Eton Wick and Turville.
Add a comment about this page