Main Street, Centenary Methodist Church

A large and prominent Methodist Church, which squeezes into a constricted site, with an attractively varied rhythm and coloured glass to its façade. It was designed to be ‘the size of Westgate chapel, and the style of Blackhill’, succeeding as it did a chapel built only about 10 years earlier which had already become insufficient for the needs of the congregation. It was designed to accommodate 500 people, with ‘lights and comfort’, having a raked floor with 2 aisles radiating from the pulpit and a large gallery. Constructed of warm golden snecked sandstone with dressed quoins, the principal elevation boasts attractive windows featuring leaded coloured glass, with the form of the central traceried window echoed in the doorway below. There are a variety of forms to the windows, including trefoil heads, arched heads and square heads, most set off by hood mouldings although the windows to the sides have most unfortunately been replaced with plastic ones. The Welsh slate roof is hidden behind the water tabling from the main street, but is crowned by decorative terracotta ridge tiles, and finished with a cast iron finial to the gable. The sides are interspersed with shallow buttressing which break up the elevations nicely, and although the rear extensions are relatively large, they are in a complementary buff brick – clearly differentiating them from the main body of the church whilst creating harmony of colour. It is positive that the boundaries are still intact, delineated by stone walls with some railings. Overall the building is a pleasing example of a Methodist chapel, making an important contribution to the streetscape in the area, as its fine façade closely front the principal street. MATERIALS Stone, timber, cast iron, coloured glass ARCHITECT George Race (Westgate) BUILDERS Wm Charlton & Sons Clerk of Works: Jacob Scott Organ: Blackett & Howden (Heaton) DATES 1908 (opened 06/06) LOCAL LIST