Sunderland, Villiers Street, Bethel Chapel

HER Number:
4461

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Sunderland, Villiers Street, Bethel Chapel

Place:
Sunderland

Map Sheet:
NZ45NW

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:
Nonconformist Chapel

Site Type: Specific:
Congregational Chapel

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Demolished Building

Description:
Built in 1811 according to Mackenzie and Ross, and 1817 according to Pevsner. Built for the Independent Congregationalists. Enlarged in 1826 at which time substantial underground burial vaults were built to the north (HER 16557). Designed by a Mr Hogg for Independent seceders from Presbyterian meeting in Robinson’s Lane. Five-bay pedimented façade of rendered rubble with an entrance door and segmental window in a slightly recessed entrance bay. The chapel was similar in layout to St. George's Chapel further down Villiers Street (HER 4457). The chapel was out of use by 1933. Demolished in 1978/9 apart from its northern wall which also forms the southern wall of the adjacent Sunday School (HER 16556). This was finaly demolished in 2010. In 2010 the crypts were excavated and recorded before demolition.

Easting:
401

Northing:
570

Grid Reference:
NZ401570

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
N. Pevsner (second edition revised by Elizabeth Williamson), 1983, The Buildings of England: County Durham, p 450; The Archaeological Practice Ltd., 2014, List of Non-Conformist Chapels in Sunderland; Brown, L, D., and Town, M. 2018. Bethel Chapel Crypt, Villiers Street, Sunderland: Post-excavation Assessment report, North Pennines Archaeology and Bradford University, HER4855