Sundon Wesleyan Methodist Chapel

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John Wesley stayed with his friends, Mr & Mrs Cole at Sundon Park several times.

 The 1851 Religious Census includes a return for Sundon Wesleyan Methodist Chapel made by Samuel Hopkins, Manager. The return states that the chapel had been built in 1839 and contained 100 Free Sittings, 100 other and 50 Standing. The entry noted that ‘The Schoolhouse opens onto the Chapel by sliding doors’. Attendances on Census day, 30 March were:

Registration for Worship at Sundon was made by Matthew Trevan Male of Dunstable, Superintendent Minister on 9 February 1854.

 When this building was declared ‘unfit for holding Divine Service’, services were held in the village school whilst a new chapel was built. This new Chapel cost £525 and was opened on 5 August 1913 when ‘beautiful weather favoured the celebration of the event’.

 The Chapel at Sundon closed for worship in 2013.

 Sources and References

Bedfordshire Chapels and Meeting Houses: Official Registration 1672-1901 Volume 75 Bedfordshire Historical Record Society – Edited by Edwin Welch

The Ecclesiastical Census, Bedfordshire, March 1851 Volume 54 Bedfordshire Historical Record Society – Edited by DW Bushby

The Dunstable Methodist Circuit One hundred and fifty years of witness 1843-1993 – Colin Bourne

South Bedfordshire Circuit website

Bedfordshire Times and Independent 8 August 1913