Oadby Leicester Road United Methodist Chapel, Leicestershire

By the 1900s Oadby was becoming increasingly suburbanised and this doubtless lay behind the acquisition in 1908 of a new triangular site in a prominent position between Leicester Road and Sandhurst Street. Moves towards building were set in motion but the old chapel on the south side of Leicester Road was not sold until 1915 by which time wartime restrictions prevented building on the new site. Consequently the new chapel was not opened until January 1921. An army hut had been purchased and erected at the back of the site at a cost of £1200. It was of weatherboard construction with six windows on each side, two ventilators in the roof and double doors on the Leicester Road end. Inside was lobby with cloakrooms at each side and doors leading to the main hall. This measured 60 feet by 20 feet and seated 250 people. It had been furnished and decorated in a very pleasing style. At the back of the hall were a storeroom, kitchen, lavatory and two WCs. The conversion work was the responsibility of architect J H Higgs of Friar Lane in Leicester. This building had a very brief existence because by the end of the decade the site was required for the works associated with the construction of the Oadby bypass (Harborough Road) and it now lies under the area where the Parade, Sandhurst Street and Harborough Road meet. A replacement was built nearby in the new Harborough Road.

Sources
Leicestershire etc. Record Office N/M/179/756 UM special trust schedules, 1924
Leicestershire etc. Record Office DE3972/18 Photograph of the building
Leicestershire etc. Record Office, DE4206/138 Building byelaw plans, 5.10.1920
Site visit 2018

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