Yeovil's Virtual Museum

Pen Mill Methodist Chapel

The Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Lyde Road

 

John Wesley passed through Yeovil in 1751 and in its edition of 12 June 1752 the Derby Mercury reported "By a Letter from Yeovil in Somersetshire, we are informed, that the Methodist Preachers in those parts had met with such rough Treatment, that they had found it convenient to withdraw themselves from thence." Nevertheless, for the next seventy years preachers from Sherborne travelled to Yeovil to hold Sunday meetings in a thatched cottage in Vicarage Street, close to the present Methodist church. In 1824 a Wesleyan chapel was built in Middle Street at a cost of £813 5s 4d  (around £2¾ million at today's value).

With the expansion of housing to the east of the town in the Pen Mill area during the mid- to late-nineteenth century, it was decided to erect a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at the southern end of Lyde Road.

During the Second World War, the Methodist Sunday School was an emergency 'Rest & Feeding Centre' in case of air raids. It had room to sleep 60 and could provide 50 meals at a sitting. The Centre was available for the benefit of people whose homes had been destroyed or made uninhabitable by enemy action, or who were required to vacate their homes temporarily on account of danger from unexploded bombs. It was also available for the benefit of people whose normal means of cooking meals at home were cut off owing to damage to the public gas or electricity supply systems, or of wage earners who had migrated from the town to adjacent areas for a few days but who required their mid-day meal in Yeovil. No charges were made for meals supplied at the Centre for the first 48 hours after an air raid, but thereafter payment would be required.

Other than the fact that the Pen Mill Methodist chapel opened in 1889, there is no other information until its demolition in 1983. The site of the former chapel is now occupied by flats.

 

An extract of the 1901 Ordnance Survey showing the location of the Lyde Road Methodist Chapel (shown coloured pink), adjacent to Great Western Terrace.

 

 

In a colourised photograph, children of the Sunday School pose with their "Sailing Boat of Hope" outside the Pen Mill Wesleyan Methodist chapel, probably around 1915.