Loughborough Sparrow Hill United Methodist Free Church
This page combines the information and modern-day photograph contributed by G W Oxley with pictures from David Dyson and Mark Temple
Loughborough, Sparrow Hill Chapel was built in 1817 by the particular Baptists at a cost of £1300. A gallery was added in 1828 at a cost of £250. In 1846 the chapel seated 800. A Sunday school was added in 1836 at a cost of £200. It was being used by the Free Methodists in 1877 and they acquired the freehold in 1880 for £450. In 1924 the premises consisted of a chapel, a school erected in 1905 at a cost of £850 and a minister’s house which cost £750. A second hand organ had been acquired for £90.
The premises were described in detail in 1940. The chapel measured 52 feet by 35 feet and seated 230 on the ground floor. There was also a gallery all round the interior providing 250 congregational and 30 choir sittings. All seating was in pews. The schoolroom measured 60 feet by 30 feet and there were four vestries or classrooms.
These developments are well illustrated by David Dyson’s photograph. In the background is the original chapel of 1817. With its almost square footprint and hipped roof it is typical of Leicestershire chapels of the period. In the foreground is the 1905 schoolroom. The porch and its side turrets were added to give access to the gallery but do they date from 1826 or later? The building has now been demolished and the site incorporated into a housing estate.
Sources:
W White, History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Leicestershire and Rutland, 1846, p277
W White, History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Leicestershire and Rutland, 1877, p 503
Methodist Accommodation returns, 1940 p164
Leicestershire Record Office, N/M/207/393 UM property returns, 1924
Site visit 17.4.2019
Editor’s note:
You can read about one of the forerunning chapels on Woodgate here
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By 1956 the membership was 62.
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