Building record 4753/4/1 - The Old Chapel, Showsley Road

Wesleyan Methodist chapel at in Showsley Road opened in 1843, altered.

{1} Identified by South Northamptonshire Council as being a building of historic and/or architectural significance.

{2} The Chapel was built in 1844 as a Wesleyan Methodist chapel and remained in use until 1985. The chapel was extended in 1889 with seating for a congregation of 160; the extension was also used as a school room. As with most nonconformist chapels, the chapel is simple in appearance with only very simple flourishes such as a coloured fanlight above the door.
Documentary sources indicate extensive and prolonged problems with the extension culminating in its partial demolition in 1949. The chapel remained in use throughout the remainder of the 20th century and even welcomed the Wesleyans from Stoke Bruerne upon the closure of their chapel in 1975.
The chapel is a stone built single storey building of squared local stone with a pitched roof of Welsh slate. There is a red brick extension on the east of the building. The extension has a corrugated asbestos cement sheet roof. The chapel house has two timber framed windows on the west elevation. There are two arched doorways on the principal south facing elevation. The original central door has a Thomas Thomas arch with a blue and red glazed radial arch fanlight. Both arches are brick built. There is also a timber framed window near the apex of the principal elevation. More detailed description presented.

<1> SOUTH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE COUNCIL, 2012, South Northamptonshire Council Survey of Significant Historic Buildings, (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN108984.

<2> Richards G., 2012, An Archaeological Standing Building Survey at The Old Chapel, Shutlanger, Northamptonshire, (checked) (Report). SNN108715.

<3> The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1986, Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting-Houses: Northamptonshire & Oxfordshire, p. 147 (Report). SNN2902.

<4> Horne B. (Editor), 2014, South Midlands Archaeology (44), p. 32 (Journal). SNN109842.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2025 7:14PM