Long Lawford Primitive Methodist chapel

A chapel was built here around 1824. The 1851 religious census records sittings for 52 people, an attendance of 50 at the evening service but no Sunday School. The chapel was rebuilt in Chapel Street in 1872 (there used also to be a Wesleyan chapel in the same road).

This building still survives in good condition; it is called ‘The Old Chapel’, made of red brick with contrasting yellow and blue brick dressings; there is a handsome porch with stained glass (the latter may be modern), a small rose window, other arched windows and a tiled roof (it was probably slate originally). There are some illegible foundation stones. The chapel is similar in style to that at Dunchurch built a few years later.

A Primitive Methodist chapel appears in trade directories from 1850-1932 and on OS maps from the 1^st edition (1880s) onwards. Some baptism records survive. It was part of the Rugby circuit. It was used as a Methodist Church after the reunion and still appears as such on maps of the 1950s.

Sources:

religious census HO 129.401.1.7.10; Warwickshire trade directories and OS maps; baptism records 1892-1964, NCRO: DRMC ML 3307; site visit 2017.