Risegate is a village in the civil parish of Gosberton and the ecclesiastical parish of Gosberton Clough with Risegate.
A Wesleyan chapel of 1826 stood on Station Road, now Risegate Road (the same site as the extant building). It was from this that the Reformers, after disruptive protests, seceded in the 1850s. On acquiring the chapel in 1855, they renamed it Free Methodist (United Methodist Free after 1857).
It was demolished and replaced in 1886 by the present building (no longer a church). The stone laying ceremony took place on 31st March 1886 – a day of wind, hail and rain. Mrs Shadford of Spalding laid the foundation stone. The building contractors were Messrs Moore & Jepson, also of Spalding. On completion in the July, at a cost of £300, the Rev James Burt of Holt in Norfolk was guest preacher for the dedication ceremony.
Parallel to the road, it had seating for 160. A Sunday schoolroom cum hall was added in 1901 by extending the building lengthways.
Opening as United Methodist Free, it became United Methodist in 1907 and then simply Methodist post-union. It was a member of the relevant Spalding circuits, and South Holland circuit from 1999.
Closed circa 2016 but remained ‘on plan’ until sold and converted into a dwelling. Above the main entrance is the datestone: “Methodist Free Church 1886”.
Sources include
Grantham Journal 3rd April 1886
Grantham Journal 24th July 1886
Methodist Church Buildings Statistical Returns 1940
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