Wesleyan Memorial Church (5)

The Wesleyan Memorial Church was said to be originally built in 1842 then re built in 1852. How accurate this report is I do not know, there are however a few other things I would like you to consider. Firstly is the look of the building, who would build a church like that. It is more in keeping with a Victorian Engine House like at Tower hill Colliery, look at the windows and very plain stone work compared to other churches.

The 1852 date stone also look out of place, as if added as an after thought and made from the wrong size piece of stone. The front porch again looks as though someone came along and added it at a later date.
A house joined onto the corner of the building as well does not keep in the usual church design, vicarages etc are usually built a little way from the main church even non conformists churches. So what else could it have been.
Around the property are large stones that have been cut away from the main quarry and been used to build a wall, these can been seen around the outside of the house down the road "The Views". As far as the author is aware this is the only wall on Mow Cop made up of such large stones. (see here)
Were these stones bought here to be shaped or ground down in an old Victorian Engine House?

We do know that the original Wesleyan Church was founded in 1842, at a time when the other Mow Cop churches were been erected. It has been suggested that there was a smaller church on the same site and once that this became over crowded the current church was built around it and then the smaller one removed from inside. The 1851 Census of Places of Religious Worship shows the Wesleyan church being full to capacity with 177 persons, average attendance 150. The author would like to suggest that the Wesleyans did have a smaller church to start with and then in 1852 converted to building you see into a church.

The building itself was not only a Church upstairs but was also the Wesleyan day school downstairs. The church was part of the Tunstall Methodist circuit and did not have a resident preacher, but would have different preachers from the same circuit visiting on a rota basis.

The Wesleyan day school opened in 1874 with just one teacher, a Mrs. Emily Birch with an estimated 29 pupils. Then on June 5th 1882 as part of the new Education Act the school became part of the Wolstanton School Board. Its numbers greatly increased to 224. In 1890 a new school was to be built further down the road. It was built by Mr John Cope and was completed in 1891. The school was appropriately called the board school, then later became known as Castle Primary School.

The Church is now a museum covering many aspects of local history and is worth a visit if you are ever in the area.