Former Chapel with Front Walls and Steps is a Grade II listed building in the County Durham local planning authority area, England. First listed on 31 December 1974. Chapel, studio.
Former Chapel with Front Walls and Steps
- WRENN ID
- riven-copper-meadow
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- County Durham
- Constituency
- Bishop Auckland MP: Dr Sam Rushworth (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 31 December 1974
- Type
- Chapel, studio
- Address
- Former Chapel with Front Walls and Steps, Town End, Middleton in Teesdale
- OS grid reference
- NY 949 253
- Coordinates
- 54.62355, -2.07967
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The former Primitive Methodist Chapel, now serving as a studio and house, was built in 1872, as indicated by a plaque on the front. The building is constructed from pecked and margined coursed squared sandstone, featuring raised quoins and ashlar dressings, with a hammer-dressed sandstone return. It has a Welsh slate roof with stone copings.
The chapel has a gable end facing the road and stands two stories tall with five bays, including a three-bay projecting center and narrow outer bays. There are three steps leading up to a prostyle porch supported by square columns and topped with a shaped pediment. The entrance features paired eight-panel doors. On either side of the entrance, there are round-arched windows with keyed archivolts on impost blocks, Y-tracery wood heads, and margin lights, while the outer bays are blank. The first floor has five similar windows above a continuous string course. In the gable above the entrance, there is a keyed oculus from which the words "PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHAPEL" have been erased, but the date remains visible.
At the eaves of the center section and outer bays, there are four panelled projecting plinths on moulded bases, each supporting small cupolas with ornamental iron cross finials, and a similar finial is located at the peak of the gable. The five bay returns also feature similar windows and buttresses between them, extending over the string course. A door to the house is located in the rear bay.
Inside, there are two flights of stairs with turned balusters flanking the entrance, leading to a gallery supported by cast iron columns with decorative capitals around three sides; the floor has been inserted in the space between. The stucco panelled ceiling features leafy corner decorations, though some parts are damaged. While the furnishings have been removed, the curved doors of the original apse remain.
Local climate
Former Chapel with Front Walls and Steps sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,040 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 83% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 65% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 60 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 98% of listed buildings. Of these, 39 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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