n the mid 1890’s, the Primitive Methodists in and around Kenwick Park needed a permanent place of worship instead of holding meetings at peoples homes.
They could not find anywhere to build a meeting place in the Kenwick Park area but a suitable plot, just out side of Kenwick Park, was found at Lee Bridges which is also situated in very rural country-side. The landowner was prepared to grant permission to build a suitable building on a small plot in a field for a ground rent of £1 per annum.
It was decided to build a prefabricated “Tin Tabernacle” type of Chapel which was purchased in kit form and the building’s erection was completed by local builders, Griffiths Bros, of Ellesmere in 1898. The early accounts book shows a breakdown of the costs which totalled £138-13s-8d, inclusive of an organ costing £10-10s-0d, which was all settled in full during 1909 by fund raising events and collections in the meantime.
The building consists of one room only and the kit form building consists of a timber frame with painted corrugated iron sheets fixed to the exterior and tongue and grove pine boards internally on the sides and roof, which are varnished. The only brick-work used is in the foundations to which the framework is fastened. There is a natural timber boarded floor with a cavity underneath.
This design has produced an extremely heat efficient and cosy interior as the steel sheets attract the natural heat from the sun during the daytime and the insulation quality of the timbered interior retains a good amount of warmth into the evenings. The paraffin lamps and coke fired stove provided extra heat and light until the 1940’s when electricity became available and replaced them.
“If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first at churchmicro@gmail.com so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication. There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page found via the Bookmark list”