Charley United Methodist Free Church

Charley is in the middle of the country in Charnwood, and the earliest meetings were held in a cottage. In 1861 a Mr. Thomas Truelove Kendrick, of Hartshorne, gave a quarter of an acre of land, and a donation of £5 and the present chapel and two cottages were built, having met a preacher from Loughborough on his way to take a service.  He later bequeathed a sum of £280 to the chapel.

In 1940 the chapel could seat 110, and in 1970 the figure given was 140 but membership in the post-war years was in the range 5 to 10. The chapel closed in 1973.

The image shows the chapel and cottages, and the map the isolated position. Circuit plans of the 1950s gave details of the bus journey preachers required to make in order to get to their appointment.

Sources

Loughborough Methodist Circuit. Notes respecting chapels, schools and other trust properties … presented to the Quarterly Meeting held on Saturday, 16^th June, 1934

Methodist Church. Department for Chapel Affairs. Methodist Church Buildings: Statistical Returns Including Seating Accommodation as at July 1^st 1940. Manchester: Department for Chapel Affairs, [1947]

Methodist Church. Department for Chapel Affairs. Methodist Church Buildings: Statistical Returns Part 2. Manchester: Department for Chapel Affairs, 1973

Loughborough Circuit Magazine and Plan, September 1973