Wesleyan Chapel, Wesley Place, Alsager

ALSAGER - The foundation stone of a new Wesleyan Chapel was laid at Alsager, Staffordshire, on Tuesday week. The style is Gothic. The materials to be used are red pressed bricks, relieved by bands and vonissoirs of black and white bricks and stone dressings. The contract for the erection of the buildings has been taken by Mr. John Stringer, of Sandbach, and the entire cost, including land and all other charges, is expected to amount to upwards of £2,200. Mr. G. B.Ford of Burslem, is the architect. [Building News 19 June 1868 page 422]

TUNSTALL - The new Wesleyan chapel at Alsager, erected from the plans of Mr. G. B. Ford, architect, Burslem, the foundation-stone of which was laid in June last year by Mr. A. Shaw, has now been opened. The building is in the Gothic style. Red pressed bricks, relieved by bands of black and white bricks, with stone dressings, have been used in the construction. There is a gallery over the entrance porch and vestibule. The orchestra, in which is placed a new organ, is at the back of the pulpit, underneath which is the minister’s vestry, and at the rear a class-room. The roof of the chapel is ceiled half way up in a vaulted form, and is constructed with the view of preventing any reverberation of sound. The space between the ceiling and the roof will act as a ventilating chamber, into which the vitiated air will pass from the chapel by a simple mode of revolving shutters, and underneath these shutters are panels with ornamental wood. The internal woodwork is of red deal and pitch pine, stained and varnished. The windows are glazed with cathedral tinted glass, in leaded quarry lights, with a margin of coloured glass round each light. A warming apparatus has been fixed by Mr. William Boulton, of Burslem. The floor of the chapel is calculated to seat upwards of 400 persons. The total cost of the building, including the land and organ, is expected to be about £2,500. The contract has been carried out by Mr. John Stringer, of Sandbach. [Builder 26 June 1869 page 511]

NEW WESLEYAN CHAPEL, ALSAGER, CHESHIRE. THIS chapel (with which it will be seen a school is combined) occupies a commanding position in the main road through the village. The design which has been prepared by Mr. George B. Ford, architect, Burslem, Staffordshire, is in the Gothic style, the chief peculiarity being that whilst strictly characteristic of that style, all obstructions to sight or sound are obviated, which in medieval architecture are so prevalent. The arrangement of plan is that of a parallelogram for the chapel. The materials used have been pressed red bricks, relieved by brick bands of other colours, and Hollington stone dressings. The inside dimensions of the chapel, including portico, vestibule, and vestry, but exclusive of school-room, is 83ft. 6in., and the width, exclusive of buttresses, is 38ft. 8in., and will accommodate 400 persons. The main front of the chapel is divided into three bays, the centre bay being carried up as a gable, and the side bays being the gallery staircases, the roofs of which are hipped. The main feature in the front of the building is the entrance to the portico, which is composed of stone arches finished with moulded labels with carved bosses, resting on three stone piers, having foliated caps and moulded bases. The centre arch of the porch entrance is carried up in a pedimental form, and the spandrel is filled in with carved foliage. In the upper part of the gable is a four-light traceried window with label mould round the arch. The gable is finished with moulded stone coping, springing from panelled and canopied knees, and terminating with saddle stone and iron vane. The staircases, which are carried up in the side bays, form a square on the plan and materially add to the good effect of the front of the chapel; they are finished with hipped roots, springing from moulded brick cornices, resting on panelled stone frieze, under which is a moulded brick string. Each roof has an iron vane. The staircases are lighted by lancet windows, with small wheel windows over the same. The sides of the chapel are each divided into five bays by buttresses projecting boldly from the wall line and ascending in two set-offs, having slopes of black brick, which will be of greater durability than stone ; each bay contains a two-light window, with traceried head. At the east end of the chapel, viz., behind the rostrum, is the orchestra, semi-octangular in shape, and underneath this is the minister's vestry, and at the roar of the vestry is the school -room for the accommodation of 100 children, the roof of which, being lowest, is hipped and finished with an iron vane. Above this roof rises that of the orchestra, which is finished in the form of a gable. The roof, which is 36ft. in span, is formed without any horizontal tie, and whilst having a pleasing effect, is so constructed as to prevent, as far as possible, any reverberation of sound, and to afford, by means of a very simple and inexpensive contrivance of revolving shutters, a means of thoroughly ventilating the building without draughts. The body of the chapel is approached from an open portico, 7ft. wide, which leads into a vestibule 6ft. wide, and in this vestibule are folding doors, with swing hinges, so arranged as at all times to prevent cold currents from communication with the interior of the building. From the portico ascend staircases to the gallery. The woodwork of the interior of the chapel is of pitch pine and red deal, stained and varnished, the pews and free seats being alike made with sloping backs. The rostrum, which is of a neat design, is of pitch pine. The floor of the chapel, both to the pews and the aisles, slopes down from the vestibule to the communion, thus affording to persons sitting the most distant from the minister an uninterrupted view. The windows are glazed with cathedral tinted glass, the margins being of crimson coloured glass, in leaded quarry lights. The building is heated by hot water, and has been erected by Mr. John Stringer, of Sandbach, under the superintendence of the architect, at a cost of £1900, including fencing. The total cost, inclusive of the land, however, is upwards of £2300. [Building News 8 April 1870 page 262 and illustration]

Reference        Builder 2 May 1868 page 328 – tenders
Reference        Building News 1 May 1868 page 328 – tenders
Reference        Building News 19 June 1868 page 422