Nenthead Methodist Church

Nenthead Methodist Church

This Methodist chapel sits at the centre of the village on a corner site with main elevations fronting Church Lane and the main road. It was built in 1873 and is constructed of coursed square sandstone blocks to the east and south elevations, more roughly laid to the north elevation, while the west elevation is rendered and roughcast. The roofs are pitched with graduated Lakeland slate to the main structure and stone flags to the porch extension. The building features sandstone dressings, wrought-iron finials and cast-iron balustrades.

The chapel is rectangular in plan with a small porch with a later extension to the north side and a small rectangular building attached to the west end, interpreted as part of an earlier chapel on the same site and later used as a Sunday school.

The east gable is symmetrical and surmounted by an ashlar block carrying a cruciform finial. It features a pair of central round-arched doorways with double panelled doors, stop-chamfered ashlar jambs, moulded imposts and keyed archivolts. Above the doors are fanlights (now boarded over) and a large ashlar block inscribed 'WESLEYAN CHURCH 1873' within a sunken panel. To either side are windows with similar round-arched heads and sills. At gallery level there is a similar arrangement with two central windows rather than doors, and above this the pattern is repeated at a smaller scale (all boarded over). Two large chamfered stone piers with pyramidal caps stand in front of the main doorway.

All windows throughout the building have 4-pane fixed casements retaining some original latticed glazing, with hinged top lights featuring Y-pattern glazing and coloured glazed borders. The south elevation fronts the main road with four square-headed windows to the ground floor and four round-headed windows to the gallery. At the south-east corner is a large ashlar block inscribed 'Laid by / MRS W D STEPHENS / of Newcastle / August 22nd 1873'. There is also a partially blocked doorway at the west end similar to the main entrance. A low flat-coped wall runs along the south elevation.

The north elevation has four rectangular-headed windows to each level and a hipped roof porch at the west end with a boarded door and overlight; the porch has a later lean-to extension. The west gable is partially obscured by the attached single-storey building with a hipped roof. This earlier building has a large inserted opening in its south elevation and a pair of round-arched windows in its west elevation. Above its roof line, at gallery level on the main chapel, are two round-arched windows (blocked in with brick) and a similar window above. The west gable is surmounted by a stone stack. A length of spiked-top railings runs along the north elevation.

Interior

The entrance opens into a rectangular lobby with an open string staircase featuring turned balusters and moulded newels, with stairs at each end giving access to the gallery. Set into a mat well at the foot of the south stair is a stone tablet from the earlier chapel bearing a flower decoration and scallop-like ornaments in its upper corners. It is inscribed 'CHAPEL ERECTED 1826' beneath lettering in the form of an arch reading 'WESLEYAN METHODIST'. Four-panelled doors at each end of the lobby lead into the main body of the chapel, with a pair of circular windows featuring coloured radial glazing between them.

The main body of the chapel has a boarded floor and dado, with pine fixed benches with shaped ends. A central block of six benches runs even under the gallery on the south, with two further benches at the front set at right angles, and six benches on the north side. The dais is centrally placed at the west end, enclosed by communion rails with a panelled front. A raised reading desk on scrolled foliate brackets with rails on either side is carried by similar decorative uprights to the communion rail below. Short stairs with handrails carried on ornamental cast-iron balusters flank the dais, and the organ is set to the rear. Curved doors to either side give access to the Minister's room and a large kitchen, which extends into the porch projection. The windows have rope-moulded plaster surrounds. The gallery is carried on seven cast-iron piers with foliate capitals, and the gallery front is of cast-iron openwork featuring cruciform, floral and leaf motifs. Beneath the gallery, the side walls have a moulded plaster cornice. The main body of the chapel has been ceiled over at the level of the top of the gallery balustrade.

At gallery level, there is a boarded dado and all seating has been removed. The windows have rope-mould surrounds and plaster archivolts carried on shaped corbels. With the exception of the west wall, there is an ornate plaster cornice. The ornate ceiling features a large central rose within a diamond-shaped panel enclosed by a further twelve panels, with smaller roses in the corner panels. The organ remains in situ with stencilled pipes.