Methodist chapel

The first dissenters chapel was built in Widcombe in 1821  and there was a Weslean Chapel at Nedge in 1840.  The chapel half way up Chew Hill was built after that date. This phase of religious development did not share the bitter divisions of the past and there appeared to have been two Methodist chapels in operation for a short while in the 1860s. Francis, Countess Waldegrave provided land at Bathway in 1860  at a peppercorn rent  of one shilling (5p) for a 99 year lease. She was also a generous contributor  church tower restoration in 1890 as were some of the trustees of what was originally called the Chapel School .The motivation of the Countess Waldegrave in providing the land for the Methodist Chapel is unclear. Her father was Jewish whose name  was Anglicised to Braham but she herself was seemingly a conventional Anglican. She liked to discuss theology with Gladstone over dinner. Her fourth husband, later Lord Carlingford, had quite strong views on religion, with a revulsion against what is called the “Ritualist” movement in the Anglican church. He was given to walking out of services when the Eucharistic ceremonials were being performed and setting down his views in his own diaries. Despite this, he made the biggest single contribution to the church tower restoration in 1890.Copies of these documents were supplied by Richard and Christine St John. The information about Countess Waldegrave and Lord Carlingford was supplied by Dr Atis Antonovich.

The person who was the other party to that agreement, and so was acting for the Methodists, was William Blanning Carter who was a farmer at Sperrings Green farm. He would later contribute to the restoration of the church tower in 1890 and was later buried in the churchyard as were some of of the other trustees.The first set of trustees are listed below in the order they appear in the origional document. Most of the family names have a long connection with Chewton Mendip.

William Loxton. He was one of the Chewton Mendip Loxtons and was also a contributor to the church tower restoration in 1890.

George Gibbons, a farmer of Lumley.

John Fletcher Moss. A gentleman of Misdomer Norton

Richard Batt. A farmer of Clapton.

William George Gait. A builder of Ston Easton

William Frederick Church. A baker of Chewton Mendip.

Hubert Church.  A gardener of Chewton Mendip.

William Henry Freeborn Carter. A farmer of Chewton Mendip and  a contributer to the church tower restoration in 1890.

Percy Ralph Carter. An engineer of Chewton Mendip. He was probably involved with Mendip Motors.

Charles Thomas Wookey. A wheelwright of Chewton Mendip and  a contributer to the church tower restoration in 1890.

Leonard Oswald Loxton. he was a farmer of Chilton Cantello. His father was a William Loxton

John Clavey. A road contractor of Chewton Mendip.

William Theodore Clavey. A road contractor of Chewton Mendip

George Gay Milsom. He was the estate forman living in Chewton Mendip.

George Burgess. He is listed in other documents as one of the original trustees and was a carpenter of Chewton Mendip.

A Memorandum dated 1910 refers back to lists of trustees compiled in 1906 when two additional trustees were added.There are a number of lists that show when the trustees were replaced by new people as the old trustees died.

Charles Wesley Harris. He was an engineer of Chewton Mendip and he was involved with Mendip Motors.

Albert Charles Watts. He was a farmer of Chewton Mendip. he may have been related to the George Watts seen in the cricket 11 of 1904.

The Chapel remained a place of worship until 1976 when it was decommissioned and used as for storage by the St John bakery business

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