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back to "The Grand Tour" index
Neville Malkin's "Grand Tour" of the Potteries
buildings of
Etruria
next: Kathleen Ferrier Memorial
Hall
previous: The Etruria Inn
contents: index of buildings in Etruria
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No 61 - The Methodist Chapel Etruria
Lined out stucco with stuccoed dressings in contrasting colour. Slate roof. Pedimented facade, with date and inscription, "Wesleyan Chapel" in a cartouche in the pediment. Central doorway with shouldered architrave beneath segmentally arched pediment carried on console brackets and flanked by sash windows with margin lights in moulded architraves. Central upper window in stressed architrave carried on console brackets. Angle quoins and heavy moulding to pediment. Sash windows in side elevations. INTERIOR has galleries on all sides with panelled balustrades. Gallery at front with canted angles to link with side galleries. Front and side galleries supported on slender cast-iron columns with moulded caps and contain original early C19 box pews. Late 19th Century timber podium pulpit with span arcade balustrade set against wall supporting rear gallery. Plaster ceiling with moulded cornice and central moulded vented roundel. Open roof above rear gallery and organ. Wall tablet commemorating James Mainwaring (died 1891) with three glazed ceramic panels containing central bas-relief portrait and side inscriptions set in a white glazed ceramic frame of Ionic pilasters on moulded base and cornice with segmental pediment over enclosing inscription, side urns. HISTORY: The chapel was built in 1820 by Jesse Shirley replacing an earlier Methodist Chapel of 1808 located in a field south of Etruria. The chapel was extended and refitted in the late C19. A separate Sunday school located to the rear of the chapel and built in 1864 is now in separate ownership and is not listed. This is a good survival of a Methodist chapel, with a well-mannered façade and an intact interior. The building also obviously has historical interest within the context of Etruria.
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The Methodist Chapel,
Etruria
pen drawing by Neville Malkin - October 1974
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"This
delightful little Methodist chapel, built in 1820, probably has many
memories for those who belonged to the once-popular community of
Etruria. In its early days the chapel was well attended, accommodating
a full house of 300 adults, with a Sunday School for 250 children.
No doubt the first folk to use this chapel would remember the tragedy of 1783. At the end of the American War of Independence there was a great scarcity of food. Riots were breaking out in most industrial towns, and Etruria was the scene of one of the most formidable. A narrow boat had stopped close to the Wedgwood factory with a cargo of flour and cheese intended for sale in the Potteries, but the owners unexpectedly instructed the boat to continue to Manchester. Shopkeepers in Hanley and Shelton heard about this and informed their customers, who, unfortunately, misinterpreted the message. They thought some kind of "con-trick" was being performed in order to increase scarcity and drive up prices. A vast crowd took chase and managed to arrest the boat at Longport. They brought it back to Etruria, where they sold the flour and cheese at a reduced price, handing over the takings to the master. Another boat, also fully laden with provisions, was intercepted at Etruria locks and its cargo disposed of in a similar manner. Such success in these illegal pursuits made certain members of the mob more adventurous and extremely offensive. At this time there was stationed at Newcastle a company of the Welsh Fusiliers, who, with a detachment of the Staffordshire Militia under the command of Major Sneyd, were ordered to march to Etruria and the rioters fled in all directions. The two leaders, Stephen Barlow and Joseph Boulton, were taken to Stafford prison to await trial. Barlow was later convicted and executed." |
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Meetings of Methodists in Etruria took place in private houses in the village in the late 18th century. The first Wesleyan chapel was built in 1808 in a field south of Etruria. In 1820 it was replaced by a new chapel on the main road near the centre of the village which is still standing. This is a brick building with a classical plastered front surmounted by a pediment and a date tablet illustrated in the photos below.
"A tablet recording Jesse Shirley, who died 1875, aged fifty-six, says : " He was a kind husband and father and sincere friend and he loved the house of prayer." Of Sarah, his widow, who died September 6th, 1891, aged sixty-eight years, it is recorded that she was an "affectionate wife, mother and friend."" "A white marble tablet is in memory of George Smallwood, who died November 19th, 1924, aged sixty-seven. He was closely associated with the Wesleyan Chapel and Sunday School all his life. Another memorial is to Jane Smallwood who died March 3rd, 1927, aged seventy-two, and there is a tablet in memory of Thomas Adams of Etruria, who died March 9th, 1883, aged eighty-one. He was a Wesleyan Sunday School Superintendent for fifty years."
"An unusual earthenware tablet, complete with a portrait in relief, in memory of James Mainwaring of Etruria, who died July 17th, 1891, aged ninety-seven, is to be seen. He was for over seventy years a class leader and local preacher and one of the first trustees of the chapel."
photos: May 2000 |
next: Kathleen Ferrier Memorial
Hall
previous: The Etruria Inn
contents: index of buildings in Etruria
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