Westgate Methodist Chapel stands on the

A689 road The A689 is a road in northern England that runs east from the A595, to the west of Carlisle in Cumbria, to Hartlepool in County Durham. The road begins west of Carlisle, just outside the city at the A595. The initial stretch was recently co ...

in the village of Westgate, some west of Stanhope, County Durham, England (). It is a redundant chapel under the care of the

Historic Chapels Trust The Historic Chapels Trust is a British Registered Charity set up to care for redundant non- Anglican churches, chapels, and places of worship in England. To date, its holdings encompass various nonconformist Christian denominations and Rom ...

, and is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated 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 ...

History

This was originally a Primitive Methodist chapel. The area in which it stands,

Weardale Weardale is a dale, or valley, on the east side of the Pennines in County Durham, England. Large parts of Weardale fall within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) – the second-largest AONB in England and Wales. Th ...

, has a long history of Primitive Methodism, having been the site of a camp meeting in 1823. The first chapel in the village was built in 1824. The present chapel, built in 1871, was designed by George Race junior and a Mr Atkinson. It cost £1,300 (equivalent to £ as of ), and was attached to the earlier chapel which then became a schoolroom. The chapel closed in 2007, and was acquired by the Historic Chapels Trust in late 2009.

Architecture

The chapel is constructed in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

and has

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

slate roofs. It is in two storeys and has five bays. There are two entrances on the south of the building, a single entrance in the westernmost bay, and a paired entrance in the easternmost bay. The ground floor windows have square heads, and the upper floor windows are round-headed. Over the lower windows is a series of inscribed panels. To the east, and slightly set back, is the former schoolroom, which is also has two storeys, and is in three bays. The windows are similar to those in the chapel. Internally, the pulpit is at the west end. At the east end is an entrance lobby with two flights of stairs leading up to the gallery, which runs round all sides of the chapel. The gallery is carried on slim

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

columns that rise upwards to form an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

above. The body of the chapel and the gallery contain rows of pitch pine pews. The organ is situated above the pulpit at the west end. It was built in about 1920 by Nelson & Co. of Durham, and has two manuals. In front of the pulpit is a

dais A dais or daïs ( or , American English also but sometimes considered nonstandard)dais
in the Random House Dictionary< ...

surrounded by communion rails. On each side of this are curved doors leading to

vestries A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquially ...

with a store room between them. The ceiling contains coving with large panels; it is decorated with stucco leaves, cornices and roundels around the ventilators.

References

{{Reflist Grade II* listed churches in County Durham Churches completed in 1871 19th-century Methodist church buildings Former Methodist churches in the United Kingdom Former churches in County Durham Churches preserved by the Historic Chapels Trust Chapels in England Methodist churches in County Durham 19th-century churches in the United Kingdom Stanhope, County Durham

History

Architecture

See also

References