Trinity Wesleyan Methodist Church, Silverdale

The new Trinity Wesleyan church, at Silverdale, near Lancaster, was opened on Wednesday week. It is a parallelogram, 61 feet by 24 feet, roofed in by an open timber roof, divided by principals into seven bays. At the east end is a room 21 feet by 24 feet, which will be used as a vestry and as classroom. The pulpit. Communion table, and reredos are of carved oak, and the seating is pitch pine benches. The three-light window at the east end is filled with painted glass, the subjects being the Crucifixion of Christ, with figures of Moses and Melchisedec in the side lights. This and all other windows have been supplied by Messrs Shrigley and Hunt, of Lancaster and London. Mr W Wright, of Lancaster, was the architect, and the contractors were: for masonry, Mr. R. Hill, of Allithwaite: carpentering, Mr R Wright, of Lancaster; slating and plastering, Mr Cornthwaite, and plumbing and glazing, Mr Abbot, also of Lancaster. The cost has been £1,500. [Building News 7 November 1879 page 569]

In 1878 a meeting was held to establish a Wesleyan chapel at Silverdale. John Hebden offered as a gift Stone Acre, a field almost opposite the former site of St. John's Church of England church. A building committee was set up and William Wright, 'architect and Methodist', offered his services free of charge. . Wright's plans were accepted and tenders received totalling £1,500.32. The chapel opened on 29 October 1879, the schoolroom being added in 1885

The nave has a steeply pitched roof with grey-green slates and terracotta ridge tiles. Built in irregular coursed sandstone. Silverdale Methodist Church shows influence from the Decorated Gothic period, for example in the tracery of the windows. The east gable features a "sumptuous rose window" with square hood mould and label stops. Given William Wright’s long associated with Paley and Austin, it is perhaps not surprising that the chapel should resemble one of their smaller churches.