Ellerton Methodist Chapel, Ellerton, East Riding of Yorkshire

Summary

Methodist chapel, early C19.

Description

Methodist Chapel, early C19.

MATERIALS: Gault brick, rubbed red brick arches, painted coping stones over the porch, a Welsh slate-clad hipped roof.

PLAN: a rectangular plan, a long-wall façade, with a projecting porch, set back from the pavement by a grassed area.

EXTERIOR: the tall single-storey, three-bay, main (north) elevation is slightly asymmetric, with a central porch flanked by Gothic tracery windows. The porch is a secondary feature and has a double-leaf four-fielded panelled door, flanked to either side by a circular tie-plate, and is approached by a modern concrete ramp, with a cast-iron boot scrapper to the left. A pointed Gothic tracery window above the door is set in a rubbed brick arch, beneath a shouldered open pediment. The tall multi-pane Gothic tracery windows to either side of the porch have late-C20 square-profile glazing bars and timber sills. A ventilation brick venting the interior floor space is situated at the base of the wall under each window. The western end of the main elevation has been extended in a mixture of Gault and red bricks, and a brick pier with slate coping supports the junction between the original wall and the extension. The west wall is a secondary wall forming part of the extension, it is built of the same mixture of bricks, and it is pierced centrally by a high-set, round window. The rear (south) wall has a projecting brick pier at the western end and is pierced by two secondary top-hung nine-light casement windows, with patched brickwork above, indicating the former position of pointed Gothic windows. A sliding vent and a brick vent set on the central axis of the wall indicate the position of a blocked chimney within the chapel. The east elevation is obscured by an adjoining cottage. The hipped slate clad roof is asymmetrical and has been extended to the west, it has a mixture of stone and concrete ridge tiles, is drained by plastic rainwater gutters, and the chimney stack has been removed.

INTERIOR: the single room auditorium is entered from the porch through a painted ashlar, open chamfered lancet arched doorway. The porch has a stone paved floor and a timber hymnbook cupboard on the east wall, with double-leaf single panel doors. The western end of the auditorium is occupied by tiered pews that are entered from the sides via stepped side passageways, which lead up on each side, to a low two-panelled door that opens into the top row of the pews. The pews have flat bench seats, panelled straight backs, and are each divided by a central stepped partition with fielded panels. The lack of a central passageway is a Nonconformist feature, permitting clear sight-lines to the pulpit, which is placed centrally against the east wall. Both the first and second pews have fielded panel backs; the first being shorter in length than the remainder. The pulpit is positioned on a raised timber podium, with a simple timber communion rail in front, with a four-panel timber screen to either side. The pulpit is constructed of two tiers of fielded panels with a moulded cornice, the interior accessed via a four-panelled door on the left-hand side and the canted lectern is cantilevered forward. A plain timber communion cupboard, closed by a pair of doors with strap hinges, is attached to the right-hand side of the pulpit. A panelled wall panel lines the east and the south walls to the right of the pulpit. The panelling on the south wall abuts a blocked chimney breast, set centrally between a pair of windows. A fragmentary section of timber panelling lines the north wall to the left of the pulpit. The re-use of these panels, the shorter length of the front pews, and the fitting of the tiered pews into the extension suggests that some re-ordering has taken place. The auditorium has a plain unadorned plaster ceiling.

The roof was not inspected (2017).

History

There is some debate as to the date of the building of Ellerton Chapel. Christopher Stell’s Inventory of Non-conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses in the North of England states that it was opened in 1822, while David and Susan Neave’s East Riding Chapels and Meeting Houses gives 1811; nevertheless, the chapel clearly dates to the beginning of the first ‘boom’ period of chapel construction in the East Riding. By the mid-C19, the East Riding had become the fourth most dissenting county in England, and was second only to Cornwall in the percentage of attendances at Methodist chapels. For a small rural parish, Ellerton Chapel’s attendance was not insubstantial; on the 30 March, the 1851 Census of Religious Worship recorded 44 during the morning and 47 during the evening services, and 23 attending the Sunday School. The popularity of the chapel resulted in it being extended slightly during the C19, requiring the re-building of the west wall and an extension of the roof; it is likely that the secondary entrance porch was also added at the same time. The extension resulted in the re-ordering of the interior, with the original early-C19 tiered pews being moved further back from the pulpit into the extension, creating a greater depth to the open area in front of the communion rail, and allowing the insertion of a fireplace and chimney stack against the south wall, which in turn necessitated a reduction the length of the front pew.

Further minor alterations have been made during the C20; including the re-fenestration of all of the timber windows and the replacement of the two pointed arched Gothic windows in the rear (south) wall with casement windows. Although the new windows in the front (north) wall matched the appearance of the original Gothic sash traceries, the glazing bars are less finely detailed. The chapel was finally closed as a place of worship in May 2017.

Reasons for Listing

Ellerton Methodist Chapel, of early C19 date, subsequently extended, and with C20 alterations, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a good example of an early C19 non-conformist chapel, dating from a period where there is a presumption in favour of listing;
* designed in a modest Gothic-style, with a long-wall façade, it retains the simplicity of form of late-C18 and early-C19 rural Methodist chapels;
* although slightly modified from the original, the chapel retains a range of fittings and fixtures, including the pulpit, staged pews, and the communion rail and cupboard.

External Links

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