Wesleyan Methodist Chapel

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, dated 1820. Originally known as Etruria Wedgwood Chapel, it replaced an earlier Methodist chapel of 1808. The chapel is built of lined-out stucco with contrasting stucco dressings and has a slate roof. The front facade is pedimented, featuring the date and the inscription "Wesleyan Chapel" within a cartouche. A central doorway is set within a shouldered architrave beneath a segmentally arched pediment supported by console brackets, flanked by sash windows with margin lights in moulded architraves. A central upper window is contained within a stressed architrave also supported by console brackets. Angle quoins and heavy moulding define the pediment. Sash windows are also present on the side elevations.

The interior features galleries on all sides with panelled balustrades. The front gallery has canted angles connected to the side galleries, and all are supported by slender cast-iron columns with moulded caps, containing original early 19th century box pews. A late 19th-century timber podium pulpit with a span arcade balustrade is set against the wall supporting the rear gallery. The plaster ceiling has a moulded cornice and a central moulded vented roundel. An open roof is visible above the rear gallery and organ. A wall tablet commemorates James Mainwaring (d.1891) and incorporates three glazed ceramic panels containing a central bas-relief portrait and side inscriptions set in a white glazed ceramic frame of Ionic pilasters on a moulded base and cornice with a segmental pediment, flanked by urns.

The chapel was constructed in 1820 by Jesse Shirley. It was extended and refitted in the late 19th century. A separate Sunday school, built in 1864 and now in separate ownership, is located to the rear of the chapel and is not listed. This chapel represents a good survival of a Methodist place of worship, with a well-proportioned facade and an intact interior, and holds historical interest within the context of Etruria.