Grindleton United Methodist Free Church chapel

The chapel at Grindleton was built in 1862 to replace Roddel chapel the remote location where the Wesleyan Methodist Association had been meeting since 1844.

This building seated 158 in 1940. There was also a Sunday School, erected in 1898 and the foundation stones provide a snapshot of the community at that time:

To west of doorway:
These stones were laid by
John Tessiman, Grindleton
James Preston, West View, Clitheroe
William Baldwin, Baldwins Buildings, Grindleton
Ralph Leeming, Fields House, Grindleton
Ralph Tomlinson, Oswald Street, Oswaldtwistle
Joseph Green, River Side, Grindleton
Frederic Watson, Steelands, Grindleton
James Hargreaves, Ribblesdale View, Grindleton
Miss Jane Green, Baldwins Buildings, Grindleton
Miss Ann Hargreaves, Post Office, Grindleton
Miss Betsy Pye, Hansons, Grindleton
This stone was laid by John Hargreaves Esq of Salford, Clitheroe, September 17 1898
This stone was laid by James Eastwood Esq of Moor Lane, Clitheroe, September 17 1898
To east of doorway:
Mrs Thomas Scott, Rodhill, Grindleton
Mrs John Tomlinson, Folly Hall, Grindleton
Mrs William Read, Roseberry Cottage, Grindleton
Mrs Thomas Latham, Harrisons Terrace, Grindleton
Mrs Richard Pye, Hansons Farm, Grindleton
Mrs John Scott, Well House, Grindleton
Mrs J J Talbot, North Road, Birkenhead
Miss Nelly [illegible], Townhead, Grindleton
Miss Olive Holgate, Foxley Bank, Grindleton
Mrs Henry Hargreaves, Ribblesdale View, Grindleton
Mrs Joseph Scott, Eshton Terrace, Clitheroe
Mrs Henry Wa[illegible], Jubilee Villas, Grindleton
Mrs Edward Singleton, Till House, Grindleton
Mrs Edward Calverley, Far House, Grindleton
Mrs Charles Holgate, Richmond Hill, Accrington
Mrs James Seed, Brown Hill, Grindleton
This stone was laid by John Holgate Esq of West Bradford, September 17 1898
This stone was laid by William Scott Esq of Eshton Terrace, Clitheroe, September 17 1898
This stone was laid by John Whittaker Esq of Whalley Road, Accrington, September 17 1898

The chapel closed in 2008, and as a condition of planning consent to convert the building for domestic use a building survey was carried out by Stephen Haigh, and the report contains a wealth of information about the building, including a full range of photographs of the building in the past and at the point of conversion.

Unusually for a Methodist church Grindleton had a graveyard, and the graves have been recorded on Find a grave

Sources:

Stephen Haigh (Buildings Archaeologist) (2012) Methodist Chapel and Sunday School, Lower Chapel Lane, Grindleton, Lancashire: Historic Building Record. Archaeology Data Service. doi: 10.5284/1018499.

Statistical returns … as at July 1^st 1940. Manchester: Methodist Church, Department of Chapel Affairs, 1947