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Of course, if the removal of the pews
was not allowed the building could not be converted to housing so there
would be no worry on that score. But since they could be, the concern of
the campaign group is valid.
I asked the Minister what he
thought about a fine church building becoming flats - if that was to be
its fate. "We have no problem with that," he said. "It happens to
Methodist churches all the time. But the people are the Church - not the
building!"
In fact, he told me that
Methodist churches are built in a housing style so that if and when they
ceased to be a church they would easily convert to homes. Although Mr
Tolhurst thought the Hospital Street church was more of a town
hall-style building. Or, I suppose, a Town Council hall. . .
Back
in 2004, when Nantwich Town Council started to look around for a town centre venue to
replace their edge-of-the-town offices, the Hospital Street church was
considered. But they changed their mind when they considered the cost
and the size of the building.
AS for the schoolrooms across Hospital
Street, the current position is that the church folk are going ahead
with their plans for an all-in-one building, but by converting the
schoolrooms as they stand. Edwardian frontage and all, even though, in
Mr Tolhurst's words, it will be "behind bars" - the railings in front of
the building. There will, however, be splendid glass doors to greet
users, he said.
Back in 2000, the church
announced plans to demolish the schoolrooms and construct a new
all-in-one building which would house a chapel, meeting rooms and a
kitchen. But the Hospital Street Association - an organisation fighting
the use of the street by heavy vehicles among other battles - opposed
this on the grounds that, while the building wasn't listed, the frontage
was an Edwardian one and shouldn't be tampered with. It was, they said,
a significant part of the street's character.
Two years later, it was hoped
that work would begin within 12 months. The expected cost was £800,000.
But in 2004, the Department of the Environment refused the church
authorities permission to demolish the church.
The Minister was quoted by the Nantwich
Guardian in 2002 as saying: "Our current buildings have served us well
but they are not really suitable for the 21st century. We want something
that can benefit the whole community and an all-in-one building would
end our worries about the split site."
FOOTNOTES:
THE reason for the
misnomer of the Broad Lane Methodist Church is that the road boundary
between Audlem Road and Broad Lane changed. The road currently changes
its name just around a
sharp bend further along from the church making an obvious demarcation.
Two historians have given me suggestions for the name change. Church
stalwart Joe Pennell says the Nantwich-Wybunbury parish boundary is on
the bend in Audlem Road (at the junction with Peter de Stapleigh Way).
Perhaps that was the original boundary between Broad Lane and Audlem
Road.
But that would mean that Audlem
Road would have been very short. An
L-shaped road up to the junction
with Park Road where it becomes Wellington Road. But . . . Andrew
Lamberton tells me that Wellington Road was not so named until after the
Duke of Wellington's victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in
1815.
As well as
holding services, the Broad Lane church is also a District Centre (for
the Chester and Stoke-on-Trent District of the Methodist Church) where
meetings are held and there is an office.
The church is properly known as the
Primitive Methodist Centenary Chapel, as it was opened in 1907 - the
100th anniversary of a Camp Meeting held on May 31, 1807, at Mow Cop,
the famous folly on a hill top on the Cheshire -Staffordshire border.
This brought about a religious revival known as Primitive Methodism, led
by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes.
AS for the Welsh Row church building. That
was sold soon after the last service in 2001 and is - I am told - used
partly for housing. The part furthest from the road - in Chapel Row - is
housing, but the rest is on the market with planning permission for
offices. |
