Silver Street Chapel

Silver Street Chapel is a non-conformist chapel built in 1893, with additions made in 1902 and further alterations in the 20th century. It was designed by architect Edgar Wood from Middleton for the Wesleyan Methodists, with the 1902 additions by T. Butterworth from Dearnley. The chapel is constructed of red brick in English bond, featuring ashlar sandstone dressings, quoins, and decorative banding, reflecting a restrained Arts and Crafts style.

The original T-shaped plan has been modified by additional structures on the north and south elevations. The front (east) elevation showcases a wide gable that rises from a sandstone plinth, adorned with ashlar sandstone banding within the brickwork. The central entrance is framed by ashlar quoining and features a semi-circular arch with a drip mould. To the left of the double doorway is a datestone, and above the arch is an ashlar plaque that extends to a dentilled cill band, leading to a stepped full-width window at the gable apex, composed of seven linked lancets. The gable apex is rendered and includes sculptural decoration of a tree emerging from the arched head of the central lancet. The corners of the gable are accentuated by wide sloping coursed stone buttresses that rise above the cill band. The roof has deep overhangs at the verges, supported by projecting ends of purlins and wall plates.

The side (south) elevation features a single-storeyed, four-bay addition that nearly spans the entire length of the chapel. The east end has a projecting gable with a stepped three-light lancet window and sloping angle buttresses. The west end includes a two-storeyed gabled crosswing with a three-light stepped lancet window on the upper floor, situated above a ground floor doorway. Between the gabled sections is a three-bay link with intermediate buttresses, each bay containing three, three-over-three pane windows. The lancets on the west gable have been blocked.

Silver Street Chapel is notable as one of Wood's earliest ecclesiastical commissions, following his first, the Unitarian Chapel in Middleton, which was demolished in 1965. The building was originally constructed as a Wesleyan Chapel.