Aldborough Primitive Methodist chapel

The Centenary Chapel Chapel Road Aldborough NR11 7NN

Aldborough Primitive Methodist chapel
Keith Guyler 1986

Aldborough was first missioned about 1825 by open air Primitive Methodist missionaries. The foundation stones for the first Aldborough Primitive Methodist chapel which was on the Green were laid in April 1843.  It was opened on July 16th 1843 with sermons preached by W Cooper and J Poole. It measured 25′ by 20′, seated 130  and cost about £93.

The chapel was badly needed as the village was proverbial for wickedness -“especially for Sunday cricket-playing.”  It served until 1907: after closure it became Fern Cottage.

Centenary chapel was opened in 1907 and served until the 1960s.  In 2015 it is a house.  It still (Google Street View 2008) boldly proclaims on its front wall the words “Primitive Methodist 1907 Centenary Church”. This is in contrast to earlier buildings which were labelled as chapels and reflects a significant change in attitude.  Interestingly, the postal address is still “The Centenary Chapel”

location: 187344

Reference

Primitive Methodist magazine 1844 page 58-59

Comments about this page

  • Hello Christopher
    Sincere apologies – I misread the article and thought you were referring to the Centenary Chapel.
    Having re-read I can see you were talking about the previous chapel on the green. I do not know of Fern Cottage on the Green but now am interested to discover more
    Yes in answer to your question – we loved living in the Chapel. It was a wonderful home .

    By David Kirkham (24/01/2022)
  • Thanks for the information David; hope you enjoyed living in The Centenary Chapel.

    Just to confirm your point, The Centenary Chapel certainly dates from 1907 – and the name celebrates the 100 years since the first Primitive Methodist camp meeting at Mow Cop in 1807.

    The 1844 date refers when the previous chapel in the village was built. It was located on the Green and became Fern Cottage. Does that still exist?

    By Christopher Hill (24/01/2022)
  • Hello
    Interested to read about The Centenary Chapel. We purchased this chapel directly from the Methodists in about 1998 and converted it to a house where we lived for over twenty years until selling last year
    It was still actually still being used as a house of prayer until we purchased it albeit with a small congregation
    We know of couples in the village who were married in the chapel.
    Just two points of correction if I may – it has never been called Fern Cottage and we deliberately continued to call it ‘The Centenary Chapel ‘
    It was built in 1907 not 1844 as the stone commemorative tablets inset into the front of the chapel will lay testament . Hope this information helps

    By David Kirkham (24/01/2022)

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