Paradise Church (Wesleyan), Paradise Row

The original congregation of the Wesleyan Chapel were recorded in the Newcastle Methodist Plan of 1805, whose members met, rent free, in the garret of Jobling’s Boathouse to the west of Paradise Village. In 1832, a stone built chapel was constructed to seat 40 people, however, vibrations caused by the construction of the Scotswood line by the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway Co in 1838 made that building unsafe.
After prolonged litigation, the N&CR company agreed to fund the reconstruction of a new chapel. This building used the material of the old on Paradise Row, which was completed in 1839. In 1871 a neighbouring area of land was leased for 70 years and a new brick chapel, for 250 people and costing £900, was built alongside the existing building. The foundation stone was laid on 24 October 1870 by Mrs. William Cochran Carr, who was then presented with a silver trowel.
The original chapel became a schoolroom. Both buildings closed in 1906 when the church trustees accepted an offer of a site on Atkinson Road when South Benwell was being developed for housing. The former church and the school were demolished and the congregation moved to the new Paradise Church (HER 14533).