Hurst Queens Road Methodist New Connexion chapel

The Reverend John Hudston, who was a minister in the Ashton Circuit, wrote the attached history of the Hurst cause. The first chapel in Hurst had been built in 1813, but despite a scism along the way was deemed inadequate by the 1840s. He tells us that the foundation stone of the new chapel was laid on 21st March 1845, and that the chapel was opened on 11th September 1846. The cost was £1800, of which £1465 was raised before, and £280 at the event. The fact that the cause was debt free was a novelty, and Hudston makes the telling remark that others in the MNC were asking “what are they going to spend their collections on?” The work of the Methodist New Connexion was his answer.

For their money, the good people of Hurst acquired a chapel measuring 63 by 39 feet, in a pleasing architectural form. Again, Hudston feels the need to defend the building: why shouldn’t a house of God not have a pleasing form as well as fulfilling a religious function? For some reason he neglects to tell us who designed this lovely building.

The building appears to have been designed to accommodate 450. In 1940 the accommodation returns give a seating figure of 586. The building closed in 1967, and was demolished in 1968.