Salem Chapel is a former Congregational church, located on

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central parliamentar ...

Lane,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is situated opposite the former

Tetley's Brewery Tetley's Brewery (Joshua Tetley & Son Ltd) was an English regional brewery founded in 1822 by Joshua Tetley in Hunslet, now a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire. The beer was originally produced at the Leeds Brewery, which was later renamed the ...

History

Built in 1791 by the Rev Edward Parsons, Salem is the oldest surviving non-conformist chapel in Leeds city centre. Salem Chapel is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and its distinctive curved façade was added in 1906. The historic chapel was the birthplace of

Leeds United Football Club Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

in 1919. Salem’s hall was the venue for a public meeting in which

Leeds City F.C. Leeds City Football Club was the leading professional club in Leeds, England, before the First World War. It was dissolved in 1919 due to financial irregularities, after which Leeds United was established as a replacement. History The club was ...

was disbanded over financial misdemeanours, and Leeds United F.C. was formed. The chapel was closed as a place of worship in 2001. The psychologist and writer Reverend Harry Guntrip preached the last sermon.

Present

In 2009, the building was purchased by Professor Adam Beaumont, founder of telecommunications company aql. Beaumont funded the renovation and restoration of the chapel, which now houses aql’s head offices, as well as data centres, an exhibition space, a bar and a 370-seat glass-floored auditorium. On 17 November 2011, Salem Chapel was awarded a blue plaque by the

Leeds Civic Trust Leeds Civic Trust is a voluntary organisation and registered charity established in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England in 1965. Affiliated to the national charity Civic Voice, its stated purpose is "to stimulate public interest in and care for the ...

in recognition of its architectural and religious significance. The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Rev’d Alan Taylor. As of April 2018, Salem Chapel is also home to the Estonian Consulate for the North of England and the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

Auditorium

Salem Chapel is often used to host the launch of Government initiatives. In February 2015, Salem Chapel hosted the then-

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

David Cameron and then- Chancellor of the Exchequer

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the ...

for talks as part of the government's

Northern Powerhouse The Northern Powerhouse is a proposal to boost economic growth in the North of England by the 2010–15 coalition government and 2015–2016 Conservative government in the United Kingdom, particularly in the " Core Cities" of Hull, Manchester ...

proposal. Osborne returned to Salem Chapel in February 2017 with Lord Jim O'Neill to launch the inaugural Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) report. In January 2018, it was used to launch

Transport for the North Transport for the North (TfN) is the first statutory sub-national transport body in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 2018 to make the case for strategic transport improvements across the North of England. Creating this body represented an ...

's Strategic Transport Plan to transform transportation in the North of England over the next 30 years. In addition to Cameron, Osborne and O'Neill, Salem Chapel's auditorium has hosted other notable figures for events and talks, including Britain's first astronaut

Helen Sharman Helen Patricia Sharman, CMG, OBE, HonFRSC (born 30 May 1963) is a British chemist and cosmonaut who became the first British person, first Western European woman and first privately funded woman in space, as well as the first woman to visit ...

OBE and

Bas Lansdorp Bas Lansdorp (born 5 March 1977) is a Dutch entrepreneur best known as the co-founder and CEO of the defunct Mars One. Mars One Lansdorp became determined to establish the first permanent human colony on Mars during his studies at the Universi ...

, CEO and co-founder of

Mars One Mars One was a small private Dutch organization that received money from investors by claiming it would use it to land the first humans on Mars and leave them there to establish a permanent human colony. From its announcement in 2012 to its ...

, as part of 2018's Leeds International Festival;

Tiina Intelmann Tiina Intelmann (born 25 August 1963) is an Estonian diplomat; she was the Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations in New York from 2005 to 2011 and was the President of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Crimin ...

, Estonian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and

Matt Hancock Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 201 ...

, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The launch of ''Leeds: Cradle of Innovation'', a book on the history of innovation in the city by urban geographer Rachael Unsworth and local historian Steve Burt, was held at Salem Chapel on 14 June 2018. It is among the venues used for Leeds Digital Festival and Leeds International Festival and has hosted the annual FinTech North since the event's inception.

Salem's ministers

* 1784–1833 – Rev Edward Parsons * 1833–1841 – Rev John Ely * 1841–1866 – Rev Wm. Hudswell * 1866–1875 – Rev Henry Tarrant * 1876–1890 – Rev George Hinds * 1891–1929 – Rev Bertram Smith; Rev Francis Wrigley * 1929–1933 – Rev Arthur Briggs * 1929–1938 – Rev Harry A. Turner * 1934–1946 – Rev Harry J.S. Guntrip * 1944–1946 – Rev Vernon Sproxton * 1946–1954 – Rev J. Norman Beard * 1949–1956 – Rev Reg. Williams * 1954–1968 – Rev Norman Charlton * 1966–1968 – Rev Jean Mortimer * 1969–? – Rev Graham J. Cook * 1976–1982 – Rev Adrienne Savage (sharing with Cottingley) Also associated with Salem, the ministers of the South Leeds Team: * 1968–1973 – Rev Alice H. Platts * 1971–1976 – Rev Tony Addy * 1973–? – Rev Geoff. Rodham * 1977–? – Rev Simon Swailes * 1981–? – Rev Colin E. Richards

Gallery

File:Salem Chapel Leeds Civic Trust Plaque.JPG, Leeds Civic Trust blue plaque, Salem Chapel, Leeds File:Salem Chapel, Hunslet Lane, Leeds (19th July 2014).JPG, Salem Chapel, Leeds File:Witch hunt ? (5034514702).jpg, Door, Salem Chapel, Leeds

References