The opening of Leadwell Primitive Methodist chapel is described in the 1856 Primitive Methodist magazine by Thomas Cummin.
The hamlet of Leadwell (Ledwell on later maps) was missioned after 1840. Progress was slow but amongst early converts “were some who had been drunkards, swearers, Sabbath breakers, and some who delighted in pugilistic exercises.” Most meetings were in the open air but the story goes that on one wet miserable day, the preacher had a cold and was allowed to preach in a nearby house – and that house then became used for services.
The foundation stone for a chapel was laid on Tuesday, June 24th, 1856, by Miss E. Hall and others, of Leadwell. “The chapel (was) 25 feet by 19 in the clear, and 14 feet from floor to ceiling; is properly ventilated, neatly fitted up and stained, and has a rostrum instead of pulpit.” The opening services were held from Wednesday, October 1st, 1856, when the preachers were William Mairey, Baptist Minister, from Hooknorton, R. Brazier, from Banbury J. Kelby, Esq., solicitor and Thomas Cummin. About 200 people sat down to tea in Mr. J. Hall’s orchard.
The chapel cost around £100 of which they expected to raise £45.
The chapel closed in 1950 but is still marked on the 1955 Ordnance Survey map; it was sold in 1960 and has disappeared by 1974. On Google Street View and Google Earth there is no sign of the chapel building. However, there is a house called Chapel Cottage.
Reference
Primitive Methodist magazine December 1856 pp.74-745
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I took the opportunity to visit Ledwell today (14th May) and can confirm that the chapel is still standing, in the very unused & dilapidated state shown in the link above
Thanks for the information Brian and thanks for the link to the picture.
The OS map may have stopped marking it as a chapel by 1974 but the building was very much still standing when I photographed it within the last few years.
See http://oxfordshirechurches.info/LedwellPrimitive.htm
The building IS visible on Google Maps – it’s the building set back from the road, in the centre of the image in link 1 below. Unfortunately Google’s imagery isn’t exact enough to show it at street level but I believe it’s up the passageway shown in link 2 below. (The Google URL’s were too long to paste here, so I shortened them using TinyURL)
Link 1 : https://tinyurl.com/m47qorh
Link 2 : https://tinyurl.com/kv9l95w
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