DaleStreet-Methodist.org.uk
Title
Dale Street Methodist Church
Description
Dale Street Yesterday
To those who regularly attend or are associated with The Methodist Church, Dale Street, Royal Leamington Spa, the building is simply and fondly known as ‘Dale Street’.
If you are visiting or coming along to Dale Street for the first time you will immediately have noticed that some parts of the building are relatively modern and other parts are much older. From this simple observation you will have gathered that Dale Street has been subjected to a certain amount of change during its history.
However, while its history could be said to begin with the founding of the Methodist Church by John Wesley in 1738, if in a short review such as this it is necessary to focus more on Leamington Spa itself, then we will discover that Dale Street was not the Wesleyan Methodists’ original meeting place in this part of town. The original chapel on the present site was, in fact, built to replace an earlier one in Portland Street just a short distance away, but by the 1860s that chapel had run into debt and so plans were drawn up to convert it into a school and a site for a new ‘circuit’ chapel and schoolroom was sought.
