To contact us:

Sedbergh Methodist Church

New Street

Sedbergh

LA10 5AF

E-mail: Office@sedberghmethodistchurch.org

HISTORY

 

Sedbergh Methodist Church

 

As a result of the preaching of Jonathan Kershaw, Thomas Herd, a middle-aged new convert, was instrumental in building the first Wesleyan chapel on Main Street, at the corner of New Street, just prior to 1804. By about 1860 this had become too small for the expanding congregation, and when in 1861-62 the whitewashed building was damaged by a storm, it was decided to build an octagonal chapel in New Street, and this was opened in 1865 at a cost of £1,000.

Sedbergh was now part of the Hawes and Sedbergh Circuit, and remained so

until 1871, when Sedbergh became the head of a separate Circuit. By 1900 falling

membership and lack of finance forced the Sedbergh Methodists to join Kirkby Stephen and Appleby, and it was not until 1919 that Sedbergh was again a separate Circuit. In 1914, at a cost of £2,100, the octagonal chapel was enlarged to its present dimensions, using the east and west walls in the new layout. The Chairman of the District officially opened the church on Friday 23 October 1914 and the President of Conference, the Rev. Dr Dinsdale I. Young, preached.

In more recent years there have been major additions to the kitchen premises, a new welcome area with gallery above in the main church, and the reroofing of the whole was completed in 1994. With the present Membership of 152, the Sedbergh Methodist Church, in faith under God’s guiding hand, is ready to take its part in the community and Circuit.