Being invited to visit Westgate Methodist Chapel for the first time in almost 20 years was a real treat and left one wondering why a book has never been written about this unassuming building whose outside appearance hides a stunning interior and a long, interesting history.
The largest and most ornate of chapels in Wesley’s Weardale, it closed down in 2007 after falling congregations failed to keep it viable. Now, after ownership has been transferred to the local, not-for-profit organisation that is Trades 4 Care, it looks to have a promising future. And so it was that Charlie Wright, the enthusiastic co-founder of Trades 4 Care (T4C) invited the Gazette to an event that began inside the historic chapel in Westgate.
Deborah welcoming the invited guests – in the former schoolroom.
It may not be as old as High House in Ireshopeburn that is currently undergoing a total refurbishment thanks to the hard work of the Weardale Museum Trustees, but it has a fascinating history all the same. To walk into this chapel, even after being closed for so long, is to have your breath taken away. Looking around at the ornate ceiling, the stained glass windows, the unusual architectural features, all of which are unusual in a Methodist building and then the original pews built to hold 500 worshippers, is to hear the voices of long dead worshippers singing the hymns of Charles Wesley within. They may also be singing the praises of Charlie Wright and his team who may well become the saviours of this much-cherished building with such an interesting history.
Wesley’s Methodism caught on in Weardale, it appealed to the masses, the leadminers who worked underground and the farming community who worked above, both of whom knew and understood real hardship. They held ‘Methodist Camps’ in the open air and, of course, Wesley’s followers were taught that their church was not about buildings. That didn’t stop them building churches, however, paying for them with the little money they had along with blood, sweat and tears endured during the building work so they could praise the Lord together no matter what the weather threw at them.
The last hymns sung before the chapel closed…
The Methodist congregation had taken a plot of land and built their Primitive Methodist chapel – in 1824 – long before Queen Victoria came to the throne. It had two floors, as many chapels did, and it was used for many years with folk crowding inside until it was decided that a larger one was needed. And so, almost 50 years later, the people built another, much larger, chapel on to the original one. That was in 1871 and it was designed by Westgate architect, George Race Jnr and a Mr Atkinson and they created a stunning chapel with many rare architectural features. The ‘old chapel’ was used afterwards as a school room with accommodation above for the Headmaster. Later, after the closure of the school, the caretaker lived upstairs and the schoolroom was used for events, parties, gatherings etc such as Baptism get-togethers.
The new two-storey chapel was built to house 500 people but regularly had up to 750 worshippers. At that time, Weardale had a much larger population. They sat in pews on both floors listening to the dominating feature of the building – the beautiful organ whose ‘operator’ sat high above the pulpit, viewing the congregation below via a mirror. The organ is said to be one of the best in the area by those who know about such things. It was built in about 1920 by Nelson & Co. of Durham, and has two manuals. In front of the pulpit is a dais surrounded by communion rails.
One of the unusual architectural features – the curved door to the vestry.
Internally, the pulpit is at the west end. At the east end is an entrance lobby with two flights of stairs leading up to the gallery, which runs round all sides of the chapel. The gallery is carried on slim cast iron Corinthian columns that rise upwards to form an arcade above. The body of the chapel and the gallery contain rows of pitch pine pews, all numbered at the end similar to those in a theatre. Families usually sat in the same pews. On each side of this are curved doors leading to vestries with a store room between them. The ceiling contains coving with large panels; it is decorated with stucco leaves, cornices and roundels around the ventilators.
In short, it takes the breath away when one emerges from the staircases or enters by the ground floor. It is, in fact a Grade ll* listed building. Thankfully, unlike some other redundant chapels and churches in Weardale, it has not been altered at all. When it closed in 2007, it was taken over by the Historic Chapels Trust who did some work to it in the beginning but since then, nothing has happened with it – until now.
And so it was that a couple of dozen people gathered at Westgate Methodist church from many different organisations and were greeted by Deborah Jenkins, the Executive Chair of Cultura and also a founding Director of Trades4Care since its inception. For over 60 years Cultura has been active in conservation and regeneration across the North East of England and Cumbria with only two Directors during that time. When the last two staff retired last year, the Trustees asked Deborah, as chair, to create a new vision for the next 30 years.
She said, “And we have chosen to have a focus on creating opportunities for young people to come into trades, especially heritage trades and crafts, through the restoration and repurposing of historic buildings. This means that we can bring together the history and expertise of Cultura with the ethos and enthusiasm of Trades4Care.”
As a civic trust Cultura champions public involvement in the processes that shape the environment, often working with local groups. As a building preservation trust, it tackles dereliction on the high street and in the countryside, from modest local landmarks to the rescue of nationally important heritage on the brink of being lost. As a consultancy, it provides independent expert advice to all those who need it, brokering solutions to sensitive development issues and securing the resources needed to convert liabilities into assets.
As well as leading Cultura, and being one of the founders of Trades4Care, Deborah, Charlie Wright and the third director, 23-year-old Cameron Southworth, are responsible for different aspects of T4C’s work.
George Race, the architect of the ‘new’ chapel.
“The chapel is a wonderful opportunity for us to combine the strengths of both organisations and expand the work of T4C. We hope that it will be the first of many projects together,” added Deborah. “ We’re very grateful to all the individuals and organisations who are supporting us in different ways, including Durham County Council, Raby Estates, New College Durham, Magnet, the Historic Chapels Trust which has given us the chapel and a grant to cover the transition expenses, and the Newcastle Preservation Trust which first alerted us to the fact that the chapel needed saving and took us to see it.”
The people who gathered in Westgate included many from T4C as well as Cultura but other interested parties too. Deborah addressed them all, giving the hopes and dreams for the project.
“We do have a clear vision of what we want to do with the chapel, she said.
“The upstairs flat in the schoolhouse will be renovated to provide guest rooms for visiting journeymen or master craftspeople involved in our work, and the school-room will become a base for our teaching and learning activities linked to heritage skills.
“We want the chapel to be a magical place both for the local community and for professional choirs and small music groups to use for retreats, masterclasses and rehearsals. Our intention is to create opportunities for young people to learn and train in every aspect of what we do with the buildings.
“It’s obviously very early days, we are gathering all sorts of people and ideas. We’re really excited about the chapel and the opportunity to have it thriving again, albeit in a different way to its past. We’re looking forward to getting to know more local people and connect with their interests.”
The group who gathered at the chapel were able to look freely around and speak to others there. It was good to be back there after such a long time and see the building in a relatively decent condition. There is a lot to think about but at the moment but Charlie Wright and his team will be concentrating on organising repairs and refurbishment to begin with.
Afterwards, the group enjoyed a delicious lunch in the village hall where there were opportunities to speak about the chapel and the work to be done there. Charlie Wright took the opportunity to show those present just what an impact his company has on young people when he spoke about a young man who accompanied him called Matthew Walker. Matthew, who celebrated his 18th birthday this weekend, is part of the Trades 4 Care team. He joined them from Bishop Auckland College on work experience 18 months ago.
Since then, the lad has given up every Monday and Friday and all of his holidays to go out with the team in the community. His excellent attitude to learning and community work is exceptional and he was publicly rewarded at the lunch in the village hall with a two-year apprenticeship, supported by New College, Durham. His Mentor at Trades4Care will be Cameron Southworth. Charlie also revealed that the company is being supported by Magnet Kitchens who donated kitchens to St Teresa’s and Butterwick Hospices, two projects that Trades4Care has been working on recently.
Charlie said, “T4C doesn’t have employees other than Cameron, and from September, Matthew, so it’s more of a team which changes from job to job, bringing in professionals as needed. With the chapel, we will partner with other organisations to deliver different parts of the work.
“And I’m pleased to say that again, Magnet will be donating two more kitchens, this time to Westgate Chapel – one for the accommodation and the other in the schoolrooms. It is yet another amazing gesture that will create more opportunities for our students and create more work experience placements.”
Charlie Wright along with Deborah, Cameron and students are delighted to accept the challenge that is Westgate Chapel on behalf of the community and work will start to clean and repair it as soon as possible.
