IT SEEMS entirely appropriate that in the year the Methodists are marking the 120th anniversary since the rebuilding of their present Wesleyan Chapel at the foot of Windermere Road, we take a look at the building that was to become their first meeting place in Kendal.

The Working Men's Institute in the corner of the Market Place was the inaugural venue for the "zealous" preacher Stephen Brunskill in the autumn of 1787 when he rented the building at six guineas per annum for Wesleyan services.

The building at first consisted only of four small shops, a gallery and a loft and was purchased for £20 on February 23, 1636, by the Mayor, Thomas Sleddall, on behalf of the Corporation, from a tailor called James Ward.

It was used as a weigh loft, in which the woollen yarn produced by the country women's distaff and spinning-wheel was weighed out to the cap, jacket, or cloth manufacturers.

This continued for 122 years until June 5, 1758, when the building was sold to printer and bookseller Thomas Ashburner for £39 12s 8d.

He practically rebuilt the old building, transforming the premises into the New Play House.

After his death at the age of 73, the property was inherited by his son, James, who succeeded him in the business until 1787 when preacher Stephen Brunskill of Orton rented the property for his services before purchasing it on February 13, 1795, for £89.

Knowing that there was not another local preacher within 20 miles of Kendal and having a very keen desire to bring and preach Methodism (Wesleyan) to the town, he initially made a request to the Mayor for leave to preach in the Market Place itself.

This request seems to have been readily granted and apparently many people flocked to hear the Word'. However, as a result of inclement weather, he was forced to look for inside accommodation to preach his sermons.

It is recorded that while preaching on one occasion, he warned the large audience that "if they did not mend their ways, they would rush to hell in wagon loads", only for an old wagoner, named Bet Craiston, to quickly interrupt him by responding, "Whya, Whya, Stephen, that's o' reet enough, but wha's to bring t'innocent horses back, I wonder? Tell me that, if thoo can."

Brunskill and his followers could not, however, have remained here for very long, as they subsequently moved to "The Fold", in Stricklandgate.

A Methodist Chapel was first built on the site at the corner of Windermere Road and Burneside Road in 1808 but when the congregation outgrew their premises, it was entirely rebuilt in 1883 to accommodate Kendal's steadily-growing Methodist following.

The next known ownership of the Working Men's Institute building appears in February 1827 when draper, James Moffat, sold the building to watchmaker Christopher Pennington, for £250. It was sold for the same sum by his niece in 1843 to the Trustees of the Working Men's Institute.

The building was refronted, and considerably altered in 1865, eventually becoming the Working Men's Library and News Room. It is a tribute to the Victorians' desire for self-help and education among the poor that the present name has lasted to this day.

April 10, 2003 11:00