Blaydon, Bridge Street, No. 11, Wesleyan Methodist Chapel

HER Number:
17663

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Blaydon, Bridge Street, No. 11, Wesleyan Methodist Chapel

Place:
Blaydon

Map Sheet:
NZ16SE

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:
Nonconformist Chapel

Site Type: Specific:
Methodist Chapel

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
The first Methodist preaching place in Blaydon was a house at No. 11 Bridge Street, High Blaydon. It was owned by William and Mary Hawdon and their initials 'W.H.M' and the 1737 were inscribed on a stone above the door. The house comprised of a kitchen and a room above, which was accessed via a ladder and trapdoor. When the congregation became too large for the kitchen, the upper room was also used and the preacher stood on a stool with his head through the trapdoor, so he could preach to both rooms. There was a Wesleyan Methodist Society in Blaydon in 1829. The congregation later moved to a larger room at 'Horsecrofts' and met there until 1856. Then they built a chapel in Wesley Place. This chapel remained in use until 1893 when a new Methodist Church was opened on the north side of Shibdon Road (HER 6018).

Easting:
18130

Northing:
63536

Grid Reference:
NZ1813063536

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Susan Lynn, 7 April 2017, St. John's Wesleyan Methodist Church, Blaydon, County Durham https://www.mywesleyanmethodists.org.uk/content/chapels/county-durham/blaydon_st_johns_wesleyan_methodist_church; Tyne and Wear Archives, church records 1887-1954; The History of Blaydon (TWAS)