The Methodist Church, Chapel Lane

The Methodist church in Chapel Lane is familiar to many Rollestonians as the place where they meet in the schoolroom for one of the activities taking place there, among them Parish council, mother and Toddler groups or a choir. But central to its activity is its Sunday act of worship, its work with children and its mid-week meetings.

There have been methodists in Rolleston for more than two hundred years. In 1798, fifteen of them met regularly in a house for worship, but numbers grew and in 1801 the first chapel was built between Station Road and Brookside, near the footbridge. By 1851 the average congregation was seventy, half of them children, and fifteen years later a Sunday School was started.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century the old chapel was dilapidated and too small, so plans were made for a new one. Sir Oswald Mosley walked round the village with chapel leaders, offering them three sites, and when they made their choice he generously gave them the land. The second chapel was completed in 1893.

Since then, several additions and modifications have been made to the building, and worship and fellowship of the Methodist people in Rolleston has continued. Methodism aims to tell the good news of Jesus, to increase people’s faith, to care for individuals and the community, to work for a just world and to build partnerships with other churches, and there is always a warm welcome for anybody who joins us week by week.

Joyce Lockley

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