THE METHODIST CHAPEL.
Of which the accompanying engraving presents an accurate delineation, is situate at the east end of New-gate Street, and was erected in 1823. Previous to that time* however, the Methodists were not devoid of a place of worship; this building was in Meeting House Lane (a narrow street branching from Carrhill gate,) and to which it imparted its name. This building had been erected upwards of fifty years. From the increase in the frequenters of that place, it was found to be too small for their accommodation, in consequence of which, the present edifice was erected. It cannot be said, that the interior possesses any thing like grandeur, but it is generally allowed to be upon a methodical and well-arranged plan, being capable of seating upwards of eleven hundred persons. Behind this is the vestry, as well as a spacious school room used on the sabbath day; a burial ground is also attached to the premises. On each side of the chapel is a house for the accommodation of the preachers stationed in the circuit. Hours of service on sundays are at ten in the morning, two in the afternoon, and six in the evening; also on monday evenings at seven o’clock.
A
small white marble tablet, edged with black, commemorates the death of
Mr. Clater, the celebrated author of "Every man his own Farrier,
and Cattle Doctor," as follows— In memory of FRANCIS CLATER, of
this place, who departed this life on the 29th May, 1823, aged 67 years...much
respected.
INDEPENDENT DISSENTERS’ CHAPEL.
This is a plain brick building, situate on the south side of Chapelgate, directly on the confines of the parish, and was erected upwards of thirty years ago by a lady of the name of Bond, who resided at Morton, near Gainsbro’: at this period it was dedicated solely to the worship of those dissenters who had embraced the tenets of the Countess of Huntingdon; it continued to be used in that connexion for some years, and was then shut up for a season: after a succession of changes it was finally purchased by William Brownlow, Esq. of London, a gentleman well known in the religious world for numerous charitable and benevolent acts, who vested it in the hands of trustees, and presented the use thereof to the Society of Independent Dissenter’s, resident in the town and neighbourhood, in order that it might continue to be devoted to the purposes for which it was originally intended. The interior, though small, has an air of neatness, and appears to have been constructed rather with an attention to the accommodation of the pious, than with a view to adventitious decoration. Adjoining the south end of the chapel is a school room, where a number of scholars are gratuitously instructed in reading, spelling, &c. on the sabbath day.
The hours appointed for the performance of divine service are, on the Lord’s day, at half-past ten in the morning, and half-past six in the evening; a public lecture is also delivered every wednesday evening.
On the west wall is placed a small marble tablet, bearing the following inscription,— Sacred to the memory of RICHARD BULLIVANT, who died the 17th September, 1821, aged 34 years. He was benevolent and generous, active in the promotion of the Redeemer’s kingdom, and deservedly esteemed both as a man and a christian, by all who knew him.
* In Mr. Wesley’s Journal I find the following entry…"June 24th, 1786, I preached at New Inn; afterwards at Newark, one of the most elegant towns in England; and in the evening at Retford, on, ‘I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God’."
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