Denby Dale Centenary Wesleyan Methodist Church

The following source list was originally available only on paper in one of the West Yorkshire Archive Service offices. It may have been compiled many years ago and could be out of date. It was designed to act as a signpost to records of interest on a particular historical subject, but may relate only to one West Yorkshire district, or be an incomplete list of sources available.

A class connected with Shelley Wesleyan Methodist Church existed at Denby Dale [then known as Denby Dykeside] in 1792. The house of Joseph Wood at Denby Dykeside was licensed for Methodist worship in 1796 and his brother, John Wood, a circuit steward and local preacher, let the warehouse of his textile firm be used for a Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School. These arrangements seem to be connected with Shelley Wesleyan Methodist Church going over to the New Connexion, 1796 - 1797. A chapel was built in Cumberworth lane, 1799 - 1800, the site of the chapel had been purchased by Joseph Wood in 1798 and both John and Joseph Wood were among the first trustees of the chapel. The Sunday School used the chapel from 1800 and the chapel was enlarged in 1839. The Sunday School used Denby Dale Undenominational School premises in Wakefield Road [built 1874] from 1876. The chapel was enlarged and renovated in 1877 - 1878. The memorial hall built in memory of Queen Victoria on the opposite side of Cumberworth Lane to the chapel in 1903 - 1904 was used as a Sunday School, a day school , a concert hall, hospital during the First World War, health clinic and library. Known as Denby Dale Centenary Methodist Church from 1930's, the memorial hall was demolished in 1976 - 1977. The chapel was altered by putting a floor at gallery level in 1978, the upper floor was then used for services and the lower floor for Sunday School and as a village hall. It was still in existence in 2000.