Westgate Methodist Chapel (formerly Primitive Methodist)

Bishop Auckland, Co Durham | Grade II*

Transport

The nearest railway station is approximately 20 miles away at Durham.  There is a limited bus service along Weardale  from Durham to Westgate.

There is a long parking bay adjacent to the chapel on the east side of the chapel.

History and Architecture

Westgate Methodist Chapel dates from 1871, George Race and a Mr Atkinson being the architects. The present chapel adjoins part of an early nineteenth-century chapel, which became a schoolroom. It is constructed of coursed and squared sandstone with ashlar dressings and quoins.

 

The present-day chapel is entered from the east through a lobby that has two stairs giving access to a gallery. Below, the pewing is all complete. Slim, modified Corinthian cast-iron columns support the gallery, decorated to look like marble and with stencilling and gilded capitals. The columns are carried up to form upper arcades at gallery level. The communion rails have patterned cast-iron uprights enclosing a dais. The dais has a panelled front with decorative cast-iron work. There is a magnificent organ, in a gallery above and a pair of interesting vestries to either side of the dais with curved doors. The coved ceiling has large panels with stucco leaf decoration in the corners. Many historic fittings and furnishings survive intact.

 

The area around Westgate has a long history of Primitive Methodist worship and was the main centre for Primitive Methodism in Weardale. It was the site of an early Camp Meeting in 1823. The chapel is outstanding in that it retains its Victorian layout complete with a full set of pews and original windows. It “displays high quality artistic merit in the nature of its metal and plaster decorative detailing. This is a chapel of more than special interest in a national context” (Statutory List Description).

HCT would like to record its gratitude to the staff of North Pennines AONB Partnership for their assistance.

Repair and Regeneration

HCT acquired Westgate Methodist Chapel in late 2009. The building is in reasonable condition, although the former caretaker’s flat will require significant renovation work before it can be put to use again.