Shepshed United Methodist Free Church

Sheepshed grocer, the Wesleyan trustee John Ball, resolutely believed there was a need for a new chapel in Oaks in Charnwood parish. For some years a group had been meeting for fellowship in a small chapel with a schoolroom above (now Myrtle Cottage) next to the Jolly Farmers inn. A nearby croft was used to accommodate larger numbers. Presumably John Ball wished to provide a more appropriate venue. Accordingly he and his wife Naomi led a fundraising campaign in the area, and eventually a chapel was opened on Iveshead Road in 1879.

It was variously described as Wesleyan Reform and Methodist Free Church. The new venture flourished for a time but sadly proved un-sustainable. It closed after about 30 years despite the best efforts of John Ball, William Brown, Arthur Johnson and chapel keeper Edward ‘Nedden’ Spencer, whose unfortunate speech impediment made him the butt of local wags. The chapel was converted to dwellings (now known as Angel Row) and can still be identified as a former place of worship.

David Stevenson

This cause appears on the 1878 plan for the Loughborough Circuit of the United Methodist Free Churches as Iveshead Mission, and was listed in the Free Methodist Manual as an UMFC chapel in 1898, but most newspaper articles refer to it as a Wesleyan Reform chapel. It was opened on 20th April 1880 with a sermon by the Rev. John Lord, President of the Reformed Union.

Like most chapels one of the most common activities was the tea meeting, and fund raising took place in Fancy Bazaars (as on 25 April 1879). There are newspaper accounts of Sunday School scholars’ teas and outings, and during the 1880s an annual sermon was preached in aid of the Sabbath School. This may be what is otherwise known in Methodism as the Sunday School Anniversary.

Female preachers were noted in 1881 (Miss Hackett) and 1884 (Miss Mason), and the Burton Chronicle noted that this was such an unusual occurence that it brought in large crowds.  The newspapers were also quick to note other unusual (to them) preachers. Mr John Birch of Derby “the converted Nigger” was at the chapel on 20th October 1882, and Mr Countee “a coloured gentleman and escaped slave” preached two sermons on 28th September 1883. More information about the latter gentleman may be found here  Both the use of female preachers, and the interest in the social gospel, as evidenced by emancipation are long standing features of Methodism.

The chapel appears on the 1884 and 1901 editions of the 25 inch Ordnance Survey, but not that of 1919, and there are no references to it in the local press after 1901.

Philip Thornborow

Sources:

Stevenson, David “Methodism in Shepshed” 2007 p9

Kenilworth Advertiser (23.9.1876, 28.7.1877)

Hinckley News (10.4.1880, 22.9.1883)

Burton Chronicle (8.9.1881, 7.10.1886, 28.6.1888)

Melton Mowbray Mercury and Oakham and Uppingham News (26.9.1882, 26.10.1882)