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The history of Chilwell Road Methodist Church
In 1798 Methodists from Chilwell came to Beeston and preached in the streets. A small group began to meet in a barn in a meadow off Middle Street and in 1805 they built a small chapel nearby on a site which became part of Chapel Street.
In 1819, Henry Kirkland, a lace manufacturer and a Wesleyan Methodist local preacher from Radford came to live in Beeston having bought land in Moore Gate (off Middle Street) for his lace factory. He formed a Wesleyan Methodist group at the home of Thomas Maltby in Brown Lane (now Station Road) and in 1821 they were able to take over the small 1805 chapel until 1825. Increased numbers had enabled them to build a larger chapel for 300 people further down Chapel Street.
During the next few years, the village population grew rapidly as the lace trade developed and brought more families to Beeston. By 1830 the 1825 building had become too small and another was built on the same site to seat 450 people. It was from this building and its members that the Chilwell Road Church came into being in 1902.
A decline in the lace trade in Nottingham in 1830 brought John Newton, a twist hand and a musician, to Beeston, where he was asked to form a choir at the new chapel and act as organist. Soon he had a great impact on the musical life of the church.
The young Wesleyan Methodist Society did not have its own minister until 1828 when the Rev. J. Smith, a supernumerary minister, retired to Beeston. From 1844, the society became part of the Wesley Chapel, Broad Street circuit until Methodist Union in 1932. In 1870 the Rev. John Russell was the first minister appointed by the Wesleyan Conference to be in charge of the Beeston church.
In 1839 a day school was established on the premises and in 1866 a large building called the Wesleyan Day School was erected. The pursuit of knowledge was encouraged through the Mutual Improvement Society, and later by the founding of a Wesley Guild. Temperance training was given through the Band of Hope.
In the 1880s, when the Humber Cycle Company established their headquarters on New Lane (later Humber Road), the Chapel Street Society quickly established a Mission in that area. This resulted in the building of the Queen's Road chapel.
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