Building record DAR 028 - Darsham Methodist Chapel

The former Primitive Methodist chapel at Darsham lies 1 km west of the main village. This area was formerly a small medieval green known as China Green on Hodskinson's Map of 1783. The chapel was built in 1873 and originally consisted of a small rectangular hall of just 5.6 m in width by 11.75 m in length (18.5 ft by 38.5 ft). A matching extension was added to the north in 1908 to accommodate a Sunday School, dated by a plaque in its gable, but the attractive Mock Gothic facade of red brick with gault brick dressing is now largely obscured by a late-20th century glazed entrance lobby. There is a small possibility that the yard on which this extension was built may have been used for a short time as a burial ground. The chapel closed due to dwindling congregations in circa 2011 and had been stripped of its altar rails and chairs by the time of inspection, but four remaining benches of stained pine may be original features. The Sunday School now accommodates a late-20th century fitted kitchen. The building's chief point of historic interest lies in its unusual number of inscribed foundation stones and plaques which date its two principal elements and name the founding ministers and circuit officials as well as various financial benefactors. Despite its relatively unaltered exterior, which retains most of its original arched windows, the chapel is not of sufficient age, completeness or architectural merit to meet the English Heritage criteria for listing (S1).