Stockton Primitive Methodist chapel

Primitive Methodist activity in Stockton is mentioned in the Leamington Circuit minutes from 1849 onwards, though it came off the plan in some years; by 1896 they were renting a cottage with space for 40 people. Later they built a chapel in Post Office Lane on land owned by the local quarry owners Nelson & Co. It cost £300, with sittings for 150, was 20’ x 28’ and made of red brick with stone dressings and a slate roof; this is one of the few examples in Warwickshire of a Primitive Methodist chapel with pointed Gothic windows. The plaque says ‘METHODIST CHURCH 1904’ (no mention of ‘Primitive’ but circuit records confirm that it was).

Regular reports of their activities appeared in the Rugby Advertiser including: open-air meetings in 1911 (with collections for the Chapel fund); missionary services in the new building in 1912; and a sale of work and tea in the Village Hall (to help towards the building debt) in 1913. The chapel appears in Warwickshire trade directories from 1908-1932 but does not appear on OS maps until the A5 edition (1951-1980) as a Methodist Church.

Nelson & Co gave the plot and chapel to the Trustees in 1947. The building was still in use as a Methodist Church in the 1950s and a Sunday School and Youth Building were added in 1951. Since then it has been sold and converted into ‘Chapel House’; the central window is now partly obscured by the addition of a porch.

Sources:

WCRO: circuit minutes & records CR 1688/46, 53 & 129, CR 2526/16; Warwickshire trade directories; Rugby Advertiser 22 July 1911, 26 Oct. 1912 & 29 Mar. 1913; site visit 2018.