Herefordshire Through Time
Herefordshire Through Time
Historic Environment Record reference no. 5594, Ordnance Survey grid reference: SO 5220 6125
The chapel at Stockton is located on the side of the busy Stockton Cross to Tenbury Wells road near Kimbolton village. The chapel is marked on the 1st edition OS map (surveyed in 1884-5) but not on the 1984 edition.
An inscription on the building reads "Primitive Methodist Chapel erected 1850. Ebenezer 'Hitherto the Lord hath helped us'".
The conveyance of land for the building of the chapel was completed in September 1850. The chapel was built at a cost of £83 and was designed to seat 80.
By 1859 the average attendance was 30 for the Sunday service and 16 on weekdays, and there was a Sunday School in existence. The following year the chapel appeared to be flourishing with Tea Meetings, Missionary Meetings and Revival Meetings.
The chapel underwent some renovation work in 1869, and by 1929 there were two services on a Sunday, at 2.30pm and 6pm.
Attendance must have dropped somewhat in later years as when the Border Counties Commission Experiment considered the future of Stockton Chapel in 1963 it was advised to centralise with Leominster.
The chapel is in good condition and has been converted to use as a private house.
(Information taken from Fred Bluck, Methodism in the Marches)
HER no. 35764, OS grid ref: SO 4151 5043
A former Primitive Methodist Chapel which later became Ledgemoor Zion Chapel.
Ledgemoor chapel is a brick-built building, which once had a white exterior and black woodwork, designed to blend in with its surroundings. There are only two windows, which are at the front of the building on either side of the door.
Over the front door is an inscription which reads "Zion Primitive Methodist Chapel 1856".
The Minutes for the Quarterly Meeting of the Weobley Branch on 4th August 1843 record that there were prospects for two new chapels in the area, one at Lyonshall and one at Ledgemoor. Six months later mention is made of a preaching room at Ledgemoor, which indicates that a barn or room in a private house was being used for meetings.
In 1856 land was secured for the chapel site and a chapel was built that seated 110 and cost £100. That same year services were held twice on a Sunday, at 2.30pm and 6pm, and by December the members of Ledgemoor chapel had been asked by the Circuit Meeting to provide a Sunday School. This action was not carried out as three years later a travelling preacher was asked to make enquiries at Ledgemoor on the subject of establishing a Sunday School. A similar request was also made the following year.
Over the years the membership for Ledgemoor Chapel remained fairly steady:
| 1849 | 19 members |
| 1854 | 18 members |
| 1884 | 18 members |
| 1906 | 14 members |
| 1916 | 13 members |
| 1931 | 17 members |
However, as with many chapels the membership fell and consent was given to close the chapel in March 1966. The building was then sold. The chapel has remained in private ownership since.
(Information taken from Fred Bluck, Methodism in the Marches)
HER no. 35766, OS grid ref: SO 4147 5030
A Mission Room marked on the 1st Edition OS map of 1885.
HER no. 21596, OS grid ref: SO 4390 6187
The chapel is situated halfway along North Road, just off the centre of the village of Kingsland. The chapel was set up in 1857 when the number of Protestant Dissenters in the area was enough to merit a place of worship of their own. They were known as Wesleyan Methodists. The building is on a raised plot with Chapel Lane on one side and houses on the other.
There are few early records of the life of the chapel. In 1924 a record of Sunday School attendance shows that about 20 children were regular attendees and the Superintendent was Mr. J. Preece. Mr. Preece was followed by Mr. Saxon and Mr. W.L. Roberts in 1940. Mr. Roberts and his family lived in the Chapel Cottage next door, which has since been demolished.
In 1957 the chapel celebrated its 100th birthday, and an event was organised by Mr. F.S. Goodman, Mr. R. Powell and Mrs. E. Rhodes. The guest speaker was Reverend W. Russell Shearer. The celebrations also included a United Rally in the nearby Coronation Hall, which was opened by the Circuit Minister, the Reverend R.W. Dale, and the speaker was the Reverend Brian O'Gorman.
Another preacher connected with Kingsland was Mr. E. Passey. He came on to Full Plan in 1900 and reached his 100th birthday on 20th July 1974. He served 70 years as a local preacher, which is believed to be a record in Methodism. He died at the age of 101.
In the 1970s the chapel was closed, but services continued to be held in private homes and plans were made to remodel and refurbish the chapel, which was re-opened for services in the summer of 1982.
HER no. (awaiting entry into database), OS grid ref: SO 44092 60728
A Baptist chapel that was set up by a local group in 1903. Before this date services had been conducted by local Baptist ministers from Leominster in a room at The Laurels, Longford.
Adult baptisms were carried out at nearby Lugg Green in the River Lugg.
The chapel is on the A4110 road from Lawtons Cross to Kingsland. It is a small weather-boarded chapel that faces the road. At the front of the chapel is a decorative iron fence and gateway.
A plaque above the doorway records that this is a Baptist Chapel erected in 1903, with services at 2.30pm on Sundays. The Reverend was the Reverend John Dart and the Manse was in Leominster.
The chapel has undergone restoration work and is in much better condition.
HER no. 31471, OS grid ref: SO 4358 5965
At the junction of two roads leading from the A44 towards Kingsland, opposite the car and auction salesrooms. It stands with its front to the more major of the two roads. The inscription on the building reads "Primitive Methodist Jubilee Chapel 1861". It is a small brick building with a slate roof and double doors. Above the door is a semicircular window. On each side of the door is a window with a semicircular head.
There was a Methodist Society in Shirlheath for many years before the chapel was built. In 1838 it had ten members, and eight members in 1852. On the 1841 Tithe Map the area is marked as allotments and arable and belonged to John Miles. The land for the new chapel was conveyed to the Methodists in 1857 and by 1861 the chapel had been built.
In 1882 there were services at 2.30pm and 6pm on Sundays, and on alternate Tuesdays there was a meeting at 7.30pm.
By 1929 attendance was such that there were two services on a Sunday. However on 23 March 1966 permission for closure of the chapel was granted and the building was sold for £150 to Messrs W.G. and R.M.J. Williams.
The building is now in use as a private dwelling.
HER no. 8677, OS grid ref: SO 4229 3575
A solid brick building with Welsh blue slate roof. The interior measures 25' 6" x 17' 6", it has five windows and a boarded floor. The building was acquired by lease dated 11th August 1857.
HER no. 16202, OS grid ref: SO 2965 5656
A former Wesleyan Chapel in Harp Yard. It is a square, stone building with a hipped corrugated iron roof. The building consists of two storeys and a cellar. At the front of the building are two (formerly three) round-headed windows. The doorway has an open pediment and the doors open down the centre.
It is thought that Harp Yard was the site at which John Wesley, the great Methodist leader, preached when he visited Kington in August 1746. In 1801 Edmund Cheese Esq., who lived at Ridgebourne, gave a small house adjoining Harp Yard to be converted into a chapel. The conversion cost £70 and the chapel was opened on 1st November 1801.
Later on the chapel was inspected and the walls were found to be unsafe and beyond repair, so a new chapel was built adjoining the site. It opened on 13th November 1829 (this is the chapel that survives today). However, the general feeling about this new chapel was that it was unsuitable in position and appearance to be the centre for a thriving Methodist Circuit.
When the chapel was opened the Kington Circuit consisted of 20 societies with a total of 400 members; by 1835 this number had increased to over 500.
In 1896 a new Manse was built in Mill Street. The old chapel in Harp Yard was sold and was later used as a seed mill and warehouse.
HER no. 35598, OS grid ref: SO 2945 5652
At a meeting of Trustees of the Kington Methodist Circuit on 20th October 1893, it was proposed that a house for the Circuit Minister be built. A house was duly built on the north side of Mill Street in 1896. In the same year the Society decided that this site was not befitting such a flourishing Methodist Society and more land in Mill Street was purchased with a view to building a new chapel.
Five years later Messrs Bowers of Hereford put in a tender for the building of a new chapel and schoolroom, and at £1,843 it was accepted. The foundation stones were laid on 3rd April 1902 and the chapel was opened on 30th September of the same year.
Unfortunately changes were about to occur that would have adverse effects on Methodism in Kington. In 1908 the Kington Circuit was made redundant and Kington became part of the Herefordshire Mission Circuit. This meant that Kington was now part of a much larger Circuit; organisation and pastoral care were much more difficult and the numbers attending the chapel began to fall. This problem was not rectified until 1934 when Kington - along with Presteigne, Kinnerton, Brilley, Kingswood, Hergest, Barewood and Marston - was detached to form the Presteigne Circuit. In 1938/9 this became the Presteigne and Kington Circuit.
Although times had been hard for Methodism in this area, on 30th September 1962 the Kington Methodist Chapel on Mill Street celebrated its Diamond Jubilee Anniversary. At this time the chapel was renovated and redecorated. The chapel has since been demolished.
HER no. 35599, OS grid ref: SO 2990 5660
A Baptist Chapel on Bridge Street in Kington, in the north-west of the county near the Welsh border. It was built in 1856 in brick with stone dressings. It has a three-bay pedimented front with pilasters.
The chapel is still in regular use today.
HER no. 36642, OS grid ref: SO 2985 5655
A Primitive Methodist chapel on Bridge Street, close to the centre of Kington and not far from the Baptist Chapel (see above).
The chapel is a small white building set back from the road. The door is set just to the right hand side with a round-headed window on the left. Above there are two more matching windows.
HER no. 31418, OS grid ref: SO 3673 6305
On the 1840 tithe map the building is marked as a house and garden but on the 1st edition OS map of the 1880s the building is marked as a Methodist Chapel. It is likely to have been converted at some time in the second half of the 19th century.