The former Wesleyan Chapel on Chapel Street,

Robin Hood's Bay Robin Hood's Bay is a village in North Yorkshire, England. It is south of Whitby and north of Scarborough on the Yorkshire Coast. It is an ancient chapelry of Fylingdales in the wapentake of Whitby Strand. It is on the Cleveland Way nati ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, was built in 1779.

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

is recorded as preaching there on 28 June that same year.
When built, the chapel was separated from the cliff top by a row of cottages, a road and a grass bank, but in 1780 there was a major cliff fall, bringing the cliff edge within feet of the building.
The author

Leo Walmsley Leo Walmsley (born Lionel Walmsley; 29 September 1892 – 8 June 1966) was an English writer. Walmsley was born in Shipley, West Riding of Yorkshire, but brought up in Robin Hood's Bay in the North Riding. Noted for his fictional ''Bramblewic ...

was educated in the chapel's schoolroom.
In 1936 a new Methodist church was opened in the upper village, and services were transferred away from the chapel.

Alternative uses

Since closure as a chapel, the building has had various uses, including a time as a fisherman's store, an artist's studio (during the 1950s), an exhibition centre (from 1987), and a secondhand bookshop and vegetarian cafe (until 2005).

The present (2007)

The lower floor of the Old Chapel is currently in use as a cafe and giftshop, and the upper floor (formed from the gallery area) is now the Swell Cinema.

References

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External links

* Cinemas in Yorkshire Grade II listed churches in North Yorkshire Religious buildings and structures completed in 1779 Former churches in North Yorkshire Former cinemas in England {{England-church-stub