Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Eastwood Street, Moldgreen
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This topic is for discussing the following page on Huddersfield Exposed:
Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Eastwood Street, Moldgreen
URL: https://huddersfield.exposed/page/4285
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This building is still standing. I lived almost opposite it 1947 1958 on Almondbury Bank At this time it was a weaving mill. As children we used to sneak in to watch the looms in operation.
One night it burned down, entirely gutted. However, it was repaired but shut down a couple of years later.
It stood empty for a long time after that.
I had no idea until now that it was previously a chapel.Cheers, Harry! Apart from spotting it on an old map and not being sure that the current building resembled a chapel, I’d not researched it any further. I’ve added some more details to the page now. It was originally a school before the local Wesleyans began using it was a place of worship on Sundays in 1869. It was eventually replaced circa 1914 by the Wesleyan church on Wakefield Road (which itself was rebuilt after a fire in the 1980s). The current building has been altered and extended over the decades, and I’ve just spotted there’s a date stone (“MALHAM PLACE / WORKS / 1918”) but I can’t see any newspaper reports which say if the school/chapel was demolished and the 1918 works built on the site, or if the works made use of the original building (perhaps adding extra floors)?
A bit more info… I’d assumed this photo in the Kirklees Image Archive was the Wakefield Road chapel (pre 1980s fire rebuild) but it’s actually the Malham Place Chapel taken from School Street — the wall in the foreground is the still the same and the narrow porch(?) jutting out matches the OS map. So, I think the building in the photo was definitely demolished and Malham Place Works then built on the same site in 1918.
Looking at the picture, I’m not sure
However the wall is not the same. Look at the intersection between the coping stones and the stonework. One wall has been built on a slope, the other has not. So it appears the chapel in your picture was built on a level site whereas School street slopes.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.6429143,-1.7621797,3a,90y,291.69h,76.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svy0hfeJGwWXcve1rWUctxw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttuAny idea if there was ever a school on school street?
I see what you mean. The building in the photo matches the footprint shown on the OS map, with a narrow porch(?) jutting out towards School Street. It’s a shame the KIA image isn’t clear enough to read the writing on the stone tablet. Looking at the modern wall, I’m wondering if the height has been increased (there’s a darker lower layer)?
Prior to becoming the chapel, the building was originally opened as a school (circa 1858) referred to in the local press as “Malham Place Commercial School” and “Malham Place School for Young Gentlemen”. Wesleyans began using it for worship on Sundays from 31 October 1869 and, by the late 1870s, it seems to have stopped having a dual purpose and the name “Malham Place Wesleyan Chapel” is used in the local press. As the congregation size grew, it was no longer large enough and a new larger church was built on the northern side of Wakefield Road 1914-15 (which was destroyed by fire in the 1980s and rebuilt anew). I don’t think the photo can be of that, as the layout doesn’t match the footprint on the OS map. Unfortunately I can’t find any photos of the pre-fire church to be 100% sure!
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