Historic Methodist chapel prepares for the future with £400,000 refurbishment

Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was a regular visitor to Yorkshire in the 1780s and may have visited Wetherby to rally the faithful.

The town’s Methodist Chapel, which has been described as an architectural gem, was built in just six months and was originally known as the Wesleyan Chapel.

The congregation established a day school inside the building in 1844, and went on to build extra rooms to accommodate a growing number of pupils until its services were no longer required when the Council School at Crossley Street was founded in 1916.

A refurbishment of the Grade II listed building is being carried out by the York-based building firm Manor House Developments.

The company was commissioned by architects Potts Parry Ives and Young to carry out extensive works on the Georgian building.

Director Stephen Potts said: “Wetherby Methodist Church is a wonderful historic building and we are very delighted to be involved in its refurbishment.”

Church members in the Wetherby area have raised more than £50,000, and extra funding for the £400,000 scheme has come from grants within the Methodist church and from community-based charities.

Thirty years ago, the building came close to being demolished.

A major refurbishment of the building took place in the late 1970s, when the old school rooms were knocked down and a new hall, known as The Centre, was built.

There were proposals at the time to demolish the original building and create a modern church on another site, but these were abandoned when a consulting architect advised members that the building was of great architectural merit.