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The Chapels There is a rich variety of denomination, design, scale and location in 20 chapels in Historic Chapels Trust’s portfolio. The chapels are listed below accompanied by a brief description. Bethseda Methodist Chapel, in Stoke-on-Trent was built in 1819. Known as the “The Cathedral of the Potteries” it is a large chapel, seating a congregation of 2,000 and was the leading place of worship in Stoke. It was rescued by Historic Chapels Trust in 2002 in a poor state of repair and £2 million has been spent on its repair and conservation. It came to wider public attention when it was featured on the BBC programme Restoration in 2003 and received a royal visit in 2010 from HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall. Bethseda Methodist Chapel has been very active in fundraising and in holding open days and events to raise its profile. However, although it is now structurally sound it requires further work to make it fully usable by the community. Biddlestone Roman Catholic Chapel in Nothumberland is the most remotely sited of all Historic Chapels Trust’s properties. It was built on top of the remains of a 14th century Pele or fortified tower, high up in the Cheviot foothills. As well as being a Grade II* listed building it is also a scheduled ancient monument. It was built in 1820 in the Gothic Revival style and was once the private chapel adjoining Biddlestone Hall, the demolished home of the Selby family who refused to become members of the Church of England after the Reformation. Historic Chapels Trust acquired the chapel in 1996 and a programme of repairs and upgrading was completed in 2008 to enable public access. Coanwood Friends Meeting House in Northumberland stands in a picturesque valley near Hadrian’s Wall. It was built in 1760. Like many Quaker meeting houses it is a deliberately simple building and has been spared major conversion or alteration, making it a rare survival of its type. Historic Chapels Trust acquired the property in 1998. It was conservatively repaired using traditional materials and minimum intervention. A major challenge is in ensuring the building can withstand the local weather. Work has recently been completed on replacing the mortar on the west facing wall and fundraising is underway to repair the remaining facades. Cote Baptist Chapel in Oxfordshire is one of only 29 Grade II* listed Baptist chapels in England. It was originally built in the early 18th century but in 1756 it was rebuilt as it stands today. Historic Chapels Trust assumed ownership of the Chapel in 1994. £250,000 was raised in the late 1990s for Cote’s restoration and upgrading including the provision of small-scale modern facilities. There is much work to do and the next priority is repairs to the roof and redecoration of the woodwork. The Dissenters’ Chapel was the first purpose-built chapel of its kind in a public cemetery. It lies inside Kensal Green Cemetery, London’s oldest public cemetery where Sir Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Wilkie Collins, Anthony Trollope and Sir Harold Pinter are buried. It was designed in Greek Revival Style by John Griffith of Finsbury in 1834 and was built to serve non-Anglicans. Ruinous when Historic Chapels Trust took it over, it has been restored as an exemplar to demonstrate how other crumbling structures in this internationally important cemetery can also be rescued. The repair works were completed in 1997 and the project received the prestigious Europa Nostra Award in 1998. Farfield Quaker Meeting House in West Yorkshire was built in 1689 the same year as the Act of Toleration was passed. It is one of the oldest Quaker meeting houses in England. Though small and deliberately modest it is an important monument to freedom of belief and religious diversity. Quakers ceased to worship there in the 1890s and the building was in agricultural use before serving as an artist’s studio in the 1950s and 1960s. It was the first building Historic Chapels Trust took on in 1994. The stonework of the walls and the roof have been restored. Historic Chapels Trust promoted an agreement to have the Dales Way diverted a few yards so that it now directly passes the Meeting House to increase the number of visitors. Grittleton Strict Baptist Chapel in Wiltshire was built in 1720 through the patronage and support of a local family, the Houltons. It is a fine example of an 18th century chapel, domestic in character with a well-preserved interior with box pews and galleries at each end. Baptism of the congregation was performed in mill ponds nearby, which probably explains why there is no baptismal font within the chapel. Grittleton survived as an active worshipping community until 1982. It was acquired by the Historic Chapels Trust in 2011 and a programme of repairs were carried out. In 2015 the entrance gates and tottering gate piers were rebuilt making access on foot possible. Longworth Chapel in Herefordshire is a small but high-quality example of the Victorian ideal of a medieval chapel. Reconstructed at its present site in 1869-70 it utilises fourteenth century fabric from the original chapel which was built as part of Longworth Hall but fell into disuse after the Reformation. It was relocated, stone by stone, to the newly constructed Bartestree Convent in 1870, where it served as the public chapel attached to the nun's church. Following its redundancy as a parish church it became seriously dilapidated, suffering vandalism, theft and arson. The chapel was transferred to Historic Chapels Trust in 2001, and a first phase of works to restore the building was completed in 2010, with the help of a grant of £143,000 awarded by Historic England. Penrose Chapel has a significance beyond its small size. Its interest lies in the survival of its original modest appearance, together with its interior fixtures and fittings. Once common in Cornwall, many such small village Methodist chapels have been lost or converted to other uses. The first service was held in 1861 and for many years it had a thriving congregation. However, by the 1960s this had started to dwindle and in 1998 the chapel closed. It was transferred to Historic Chapels Trust in 1999 – the first Methodist chapel to be acquired. A programme of minor repairs was undertaken to restore the building to its original appearance. Petre Chapel in Essex was built in 1854 as a mortuary chapel for the Petre family who owned nearby Thorndon Hall. After the Reformation the family held to their Catholic faith, sometimes disguising their religious affiliations, under pain of death. The interior of the full- blown gothic chapel is gloriously decorated with gilded angels on the richly painted hammer-beams on the roof. However, it was in a parlous state when Historic Chapels Trust acquired it in 2010. Many of the carvings had been damaged and the stained-glass was lost to vandalism so the windows were blocked up. Urgent repairs to the belfry, spire and stonework were completed in 2015. Following this works to the roof timbers were undertaken. There is still much work to be done including repairs to the carvings and finding stained glass to replace that which is missing. Salem Chapel in Devon dates from 1719. It was originally a Presbyterian chapel but later housed an Independent congregational meeting for many generations. The building is square with a four-hipped roof. Inside the simple interior the focal point is the pulpit, facing which is a single column of pews. A three-sided gallery with contemporary box pews dates from the early 19th century. When Historic Chapels Trust acquired the chapel in 1996 it was in a perilous condition and the roof was on the verge of collapse. A £700,000 repair programme was completed in 2006 and the chapel is now an active community building. The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes is a Roman Catholic Chapel built in thanksgiving to God for the relatively light bombing of Blackpool and surrounding areas during the Second World War. It was completed in 1957 and is one of very few post-war churches listed at Grade II*. The architect was Francis Xavier Velarde, highly regarded for his originality and distinctive style. The chapel fell out of use in 1999 and was transferred to Historic Chapels Trust in 2002. A first phase of repairs was completed in 2008 and fundraising is underway to raise the £400,000 needed to complete the repairs and introduce facilities to ensure the building can host community activities which are essential to its future sustainability. St Benet’s Chapel in Merseyside was opened in 1793 and is a rare survival of a Catholic church built for a poor community. It is small and of limited architectural ambition, bearing greater resemblance to a hall or barn than a chapel. Inside is an altar dating from the early 19th century, the decoration behind it features winged cherubs, heavenly rays and neo-classical urns and garlands. In 1995 the chapel passed into the care of Historic Chapels Trust which has completed three phases of repair works but funds now need to be raised so that the interior can be restored to the original design. St George’s German Lutheran Church in London is the oldest surviving German church building in Britain. It opened in 1762 to serve the large German community in the area. Inside, the church retains remarkable furnishings, including a complete set of box pews, a magnificent, central double-decker pulpit and a fine German Walcker organ.

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