Hole In The Wall Warehouse

The Hole in the Wall Warehouse, located in Barnard Castle, is a former Methodist meeting house dating from around 1747 to 1764, now serving as a warehouse. The building features rubble construction with quoins and stone dressings, topped by a roof of stone flags. It is two storeys high and likely has a three-window range, with a central two-storey offshoot, possibly a stair wing, on the west side.

The north gable facing Queen Street has a low, eroded, chamfered elliptical arch that spans a lane beneath the building. There are inserted double boarded vehicle doors on the right, and a stone surround frames a blocked opening to the left on the first floor, which is filled with lower rubble and upper brick. To the right, there is a boarded loading door beneath a wider wooden lintel. In the gable peak, there is old brick patching at the center, a small blocked opening to the left with a flat stone lintel, and a boarded shutter to the right under a thin wooden lintel.

The left return is partly obstructed by an adjoining shed, revealing part of one and all of another tall blocked opening with flat stone lintels. The right return, which faces a public car park behind the Market Place, shows a pent roof on the west wing with blocked openings on each floor.

The interior has not been inspected. Historically, this building served as the first meeting room for the Methodists after their establishment around 1747, under the leadership of Joseph Cheesebrough, who encouraged Catherine Graves to form a class in Barnard Castle. This location was chosen due to the inadequacy of private homes for the growing congregation and the need for a discreet meeting place. John Wesley is believed to have preached here during his second visit to Barnard Castle in 1761. The first dedicated Methodist chapel in the town was built in 1764 on Broad Gate to accommodate the increasing numbers.