1914 Station Road New Wesleyan Chapel |
New Chapel Completed - 1914
Lawley Postcard of new Wesleyan Church circa 1920. Supect this photograph is taken very soon after opening as the stone work around the door is very clean and new.
Another early undated photo but taken probably very early post world war one.
This 1904 edition of the Methodist Hymn Book was presented but Mrs J.A. Patrick to the trustees on the opening of the new church and still contains well known harvest favourites even if many other hymns are now no longer in the current book.
One of the few original interior fitments to survive is this ceramic sink still with its lead piped U bend functioning below. Made under the trade name "The Utilus" it still serves the Vestry toilet. With most of the interior fitments being replaced over the years one original overhead cast iron toilet cistern has been refurbished and still in a domestic house in Staffordshire.
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The current building in Station Road was completed just before the start of World War one. Foundation stones in the East wall nearest the road are dated 4th October 1913. Deeds for the previous Birmingham Road chapel state that this was the old chapel on a deed dated 18th December 1914. The new chapel was opened on 7th February 1914 and is commemorated by the big church bible which is still present in the church.
Bible dedication still in use in the chapel
Mrs Patrick seems to have been a generous benefactor - this is a recently rediscovered old hymn book - a 1904 edition but specially inscribed for the opening of the chapel.
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The 1930's
Interior alter view taken from card mounted photograph which must be circa 1935
The chapel was enlarged slightly and the altar position moved in 1929.
Electric lighting was installed in 1932. The new organ seen in this photo was fitted in 1935 so it would make sense that this photograph was taken to show off these improvements. This also shows the original dark wood chapel chairs in use. The church was even leased in Jan 1941 to ARP workers for 6/- week. |
Interior view of an unknown date but definitely post 1935, showing little change to the present day in the fabric of the church. The organ was moved 90 degrees before 1946 and the light fittings changed to fluorescent tubes in the 1980's. Some of the chairs shown here are still in use in the adjacent school room and were replaced with the current green "comfy" chairs in the early 1970's.
Could it be that the vase on the altar is the 1928 dated one for Whitacre Wesleyan Chapel; still in use today?
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1990's - Replacing the fabric
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By the early nineties much of the original church fabric was approaching the end of its life cycle. Window and the roof replacement were rapidly becoming the most urgent. The roof was replaced circa 1991 and this removed the central small ventilation shaft that used to previously grace the main church and gave the church a more clean look shown here. Next a new heating system then windows were replaced and were upgraded to double glazed units. The original patterns were replicated in the new glass work.
More information on the rear ribbon of stone blocks Contemporary Newsletters describing the fabric replacement of the 1990's
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2020's - further progress
New Gates
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The original gates seem to have been replaced soon after the second world war as a war memorial. By the bicentenary of Methodism in the village in 2019/2020 they were tired and despite having new posts around the Millennium were getting hard to open and had structural issues.New gates have been erected on one new post and look very smart once again and open easily.
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Chair History
Over the years the church has has three sets of seating. Each set has done over 50 years before replacement. The original seats appear to be the dark chapel chairs which are shown in the main church in the pre war photograph (circa 1935) and very little changed up to around 1970 as a 1968 wedding photograph also shows the same unpadded chairs still in the main chapel. Around 1970 some green padded oak chapel seats were purchased and the whole of the chapel equipped with these. At this point the old black chapel chairs were retired to the school room. These chairs have served the congregation well but did suffer a little from water ingress when the room was in a poor state in the 1990's. Others broke at the base of the back and a few have succumbed to wood worm.
In 2023 this chapel was offered the red upholstered chairs we have and use for church use today. These were generously gifted to us when Coleshill Methodist Church closed in the same year and were transferred to us. This has allowed the green chairs to replace the ageing black original chairs in the school room with just a few remaining examples kept for posterity. We are grateful for the donation of the chairs which has allowed them to continue to be used for worship as originally intended.
In 2023 this chapel was offered the red upholstered chairs we have and use for church use today. These were generously gifted to us when Coleshill Methodist Church closed in the same year and were transferred to us. This has allowed the green chairs to replace the ageing black original chairs in the school room with just a few remaining examples kept for posterity. We are grateful for the donation of the chairs which has allowed them to continue to be used for worship as originally intended.
