Our History

It was in August 1899 that the Rev W.R. Sunman, Minister of Prudhoe Street United Methodist Free Church, recorded that distance was preventing many of his members living in West Jesmond from attending Church more than once each Sunday. He therefore proposed that a small chapel with a schoolroom attached should be erected in Jesmond with a young Minister in charge.

A committee was formed and no time was lost in securing the offer of two sites, one in St George's Terrace and the other near the railway line. However, so many conditions were attached to the sale of this second site that it was agreed to purchase the St George's Terrace site at a cost of one pound per square yard! Architects and plans were sought and it was agreed that Mr. W.H. Knowles F.R.I.B.A. be appointed. He drew up plans for a large church, with Church Hall and many rooms for various purposes. Ways and means being considered it was thought advisable to proceed at first with the Church Hall, and a portion of the rooms, leaving the permanent church and the remaining buildings till it should be seen how the smaller scheme would develop.

It was about this time that the Salem Methodist New Connexion Church (then situated in Shieldfield) was also considering the possibility of establishing a new church in Jesmond. The story goes that, but for a chance meeting of the Ministers of Prudhoe Street and Salem Churches, each would have remained ignorant of the other's plans. Be that as it may, the Salem minister, perhaps foreseeing that the union of the United Methodist Free Church and the Methodist New Connexion was not far distant, magnanimously offered to leave the field to the UMFC and to transfer the tenancy of the Co-operative Society building in Fern Avenue to the UMFC for use during the building operations at St George's Terrace.

And so it was that the foundation stone of the new building was laid on Tuesday 24th July 1900. After the service, the assembled company proceeded to Jesmond Wesleyan Church (Clayton Road) for tea, followed by a public meeting. A year later on Wednesday 31st July 1901, the new "church hall" was opened at a total cost, including land, of £4700, of which £2600 remained to be paid. However, it was not until 1928 that this debt was finally cleared. As a result, the original plan to build a church on the adjoining land now occupied by the Jesmond Library was never implemented.

The new society began with 170 members and 170 in the Sunday School.

Methodism continued in Jesmond at both St George's Terrace and Clayton Road over the next nine decades. Eventually in 1990 it was decided to close Clayton Road Methodist Church and amalgamate with St George's Terrace Methodist Church to form Jesmond Methodist Church.

There was significant upheaval involved as it was decided that a new church would be made out of the premises at St George's Terrace. In 1994/6 the church underwent major internal and external refurbishment. This has made the church fully accessible to all, and culminated with the presentation of two Lord Mayor's design awards. At the start of this process services were held in what is now the church hall - which had been enlarged about the time of the merger to take the increased numbers. With the refurbishment came the opportunity to redevelop the then hall into a 'new' chapel. Initially this process started out as something of a leap of faith, no one was sure how much the whole process was going to cost or indeed how we would raise the money. The fundraising for this was to dominate Church life for the next 5 or so years, with the final payment made in 2000. The whole process was sped up considerably by a series of interest free loans from members. But there were many many other money raising projects, from meals in peoples' houses to - after completion - jazz concerts, string quartets, choir concerts. There was a real commitment to the project from all the congregation, there needed to be. In 1996 the 'new' chapel was dedicated at a service attended by the deputy Lord Mayor, shortly afterwards we were awarded two Lord Mayor's design awards.

During the refurbishment a jar was found containing items buried during the original building of the church in 1901. The contents were examined and a new time capsule was buried in the Church during the renovations.

Jesmond Methodist Church is very much part of the community in Jesmond and the premises are available for use by many different groups.