Jubilee WMA chapel and Sunday school were built in 1850. The chapel expected to have 85 free sittings when the gallery was pewed. There were 85 other sittings
Source
The National Archives HO129/474/6/11
Stalybridge Jubilee Wesleyan Methodist Association chapel and Sunday school
Booth Street
Stalybridge Booth Street Wesleyan Methodist Association (later Free Methodist) chapel as shown on Ortdnance Survey large scale town plan 1:1056 Ashton under Lyne and Stalybridge Sheet 14 (1852)
'Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland' https://maps.nls.uk/index.html
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This chapel is recorded in the 1851 “Religious Census” as Jubilee, and the return was completed by Charles Edwards who was the Wesleyan Association minister for the Glossop Circuit at the time. The name is unique to this source. All other contemporary sources just tell us that it was in Stalybridge, whereas all later sources call it Booth Street Free Methodist chapel. I have therefore added the relevant section of the Ordnance Survey town plan, surveyed in 1850.
The Wesleyan Methodist Association Magazine includes two accounts of this chapel which inform us that the foundation stone was laid on 18th August 1849, and that the chapel opened on 22nd February 1850 (Good Friday). It was 42 feet long, 36 feet wide and had a height of 21 feet. In August 1849 the estimated cost was £360. By February 1850 £500 had been spent. There were 40 members, so the seating for 170 mentioned by Rev Charles Edwards would have been sufficient. The chapel was extended later, as by 1940 the accommodation was estimated as 300.
Wesleyan Methodist Association Magazine for 1849 p462
Wesleyan Methodist Association Magazine for 1850 p247
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