The Wesleyan Methodist Association built a chapel in Charlotte Street, just off the Caledonian Road in what had just been renamed King’s Cross in 1841.
The chapel opened on Friday 18th March 1842 with an afternoon and evening service, followed by three services on Sunday 20th March. “The attendances at all the services, and the collections, were quite equal to our expectations” the WMA Magazine informed its readers. The article went on to record that “This chapel is forty-eight feet long, by forty-three feet wide, and is of sufficient height for galleries: underneath the chapel there are most excellent, light,lofty, dry and airy school-rooms, and visitors’ and other rooms; surrounded with a spacious paved area.”
The chapel seated 325 in 1851; when attendance was 272 in the morning, and 132 in the evening.
By the beginning of the Twentieth century the chapel had been rebuilt, if the photograph from 1907 is any guide. . By this time the chapel belonged to the United Methodist Free Churches, and was known as King’s Cross Mission. Attendance in 1903 was 186 in the morning and 431 in the evening, beyond the capacity of the 1841 building. Indeed the capacity of the building illustrated was 850. The mapping evidence is contradictory, surveying the same building in 1871, 1894 and 1913, so any comments would be welcome.
Charlotte Street was re-named Carnegie Street in 1938. The Church was destroyed by a land mine in 1941 but the congregation continued to meet at Liberal Hall, 314 Caledonian Road, until 1960 when the members transferred to King’s Cross Central Mission.
Sources:
Wesleyan Methodist Association Magazine 1842 p 206
TNA HO 129/10/1/1/9
The religious life of London (1904)
Missionary Echo of the United Methodist Free Churches 1907 p 177
Statistical returns … as at July 1st 1940. Manchester: Methodist Church, Department of Chapel Affairs, 1947
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