Underhill Methodist Church
Underhill Methodist Church, also known as the Brackenbury Memorial Church, is a former Wesleyan Methodist church in Fortuneswell. It was built in 1898-99 to replace an earlier chapel established by Robert Carr Brackenbury in 1792. The church remained an active place of worship until its closure in 2022. Although it is not a listed building, the church is designated an Important Local Building as part of the conservation area of Underhill.
History
Establishment of Methodism on Portland and Brackenbury's original chapel (1791-94)
Portland's original Methodist following was a small society of approximately twenty members which was established in the mid-1740s through the efforts of the local quarryman William Nelson. The society was strengthened in 1746 when Rev. Charles Wesley stayed at Nelson's residence in Fortuneswell and began preaching across the island. Although the society dissolved after Nelson's death in 1770, the arrival of preacher Robert Carr Brackenbury to Portland in 1791 saw a new, larger Methodist following formed, with the assistance of George Smith. Brackenbury purchased a dwelling in Fortuneswell and soon began preaching from his new residence. When attendance numbers soon surpassed the capacity of the house, he hired larger premises in the village and then formed plans to build a small chapel at his expense.
In April 1792, Brackenbury obtained a plot of land in the southern region of Fortuneswell and commissioned the construction of a chapel and minister's house. The chapel opened in January 1793 after gaining its preaching license from the Court of Blandford "for the public worship of God by a congregation of Dissenting Protestants called Methodists". Meanwhile, Brackenbury began to focus on increasing Methodist numbers in Tophill. He initially hired a house in Wakeham for preaching in 1792, but decided to purchase a nearby house in the same hamlet in 1794. Although he returned back to Lincolnshire that year, both Brackenbury and his wife continued their association with the Portland circuit.
After Brackenbury's death in 1818, his wife had the chapel and house at Fortuneswell, along with the house at Wakeham, transferred to fourteen trustees of Portland's circuit the following year. As a continued "friend and benefactress" to the island, Mrs. Brackenbury paid for the construction of Tophill's first purpose-built chapel at Wakeham in 1825 and established a Wesleyan Day School in Fortuneswell, near Brackenbury's chapel, in 1845. The school later became an infant school in 1936 and finally closed in 1991 with the opening of the new Brackenbury Infant School.
Construction of Underhill Methodist Church (1898–1899)
As the 19th century progressed, Portland's Methodist following continued to increase in line with the growing population of the island. In particular, the mid-19th century transformation of Portland Roads into a harbour of refuge, the various government works linked to it, and the increasing military presence at Portland, resulted in large increases to Portland's population and its Methodist following. While a new chapel was opened at Easton in 1855 to serve Tophill, Brackenbury's chapel at Fortuneswell, which had become too small to meet the requirements of the congregation, underwent modernisation and alteration in 1864.
As the centenary year of Portland's Methodist following approached (1891), the Wesleyan trustees and congregation of the Fortuneswell chapel announced their intention to celebrate the occasion with the building of a new chapel. Although no new chapel was built by the time of the centenary, in 1896 it was determined to replace the chapel, which was "inadequate for the requirements of the society", with a new building on or near the existing one, for an intended £2,500 to £3,000 cost. The trustees wished to build the new chapel on land they already owned. As a result, it was necessary to demolish the minister's house behind the chapel to allow it to remain open while the new one was being built.
The plans for the new church were drawn up by the architect Mr. Robert Curwen of London and construction commenced on 30 May 1898 with the laying of twenty-six foundation stones during a well-attended ceremony. Present was Lieutenant Molyneux of HMS Boscawen on behalf of the Royal Navy and Captain Sant of the 5th Fusiliers (stationed at the Verne Citadel) on behalf of the British Army. Following the ceremony, a public tea was held in the Wesleyan schoolroom, along with an evening meeting in the old chapel. By the time of the ceremony, approximately £2,500 had been raised towards the cost of the new church.
The church, which was able to accommodate 732 worshippers, was built by the local builder Mr. John Patten and cost £3,264. Work progressed well throughout the year, with the Southern Times commenting in December 1898: "Judging from the exterior, [the chapel] bids fair to be one of the finest specimens of ecclesiastical architecture in the Island". It was completed the following year and first opened for Divine Service on Whit Monday, 22 May 1899, with opening services continuing into June.
The final services held in the 1792 chapel were carried out on 3 June 1900 and the building went on to be used by the Sunday school from May 1901. It was finally demolished in 1903 to make way for a new manse, now known as Brackenbury House. In 1902, a new organ was installed in the church, replacing a small American organ that was deemed ineffective during services. It was built by Messrs. D. P. Conacher & Co of Huddersfield at a cost of £450 and was formally opened during an evening recital on 19 November. In c. 1926, the church was extended at the back with the construction of a hall. It was paid for by Mrs. Rebecca Siggs in memory of her husband George Siggs, a former Sunday school teacher of the adjacent Wesleyan Day School. In c. 1935, repairs and redecoration work was carried out to the church.
In 1933, a new Portland Methodist Society was formed after the unification of the Wesleyan, Primitive and United Methodist Churches the previous year. From that time, Underhill was served by three Methodist places of worship: the 1899 chapel, the former Bible Christian chapel at Maidenwell and the former Primitive Methodist chapel in Fortuneswell. By the 1970s, it was no longer financially viable to operate three chapels within the same area and the decision was made to close the two latter chapels, leaving Underhill Methodist Church to serve the congregation. Amidst this reorganisation, work was carried out between 1970 and 1971 on the modernisation of the church's interior, with much of the cost being funded by a legacy left by Robert Bruce Monger. The work included removing the galleries, adding a vestibule, transforming the two entrances either side of the central one into windows, adding new fittings and erecting a wooden screen in front of the organ. Further renovations in the late 1990s aimed to "amplify [the] beauty and openness" of the church.
Closure (2022-)
In its final years as a place of worship, the church formed part of the Dorset South & West Methodist Circuit, which was established in September 2018 with the merging of the Portland, Weymouth, Dorchester and Bridport circuits. The church held its final service on 3 April 2022, leaving Easton Methodist Church as the only Methodist place of worship on the island. Both the church and former Brackenbury Infant School were put up for sale by informal tender in October 2023 with a guide price of £400,000.
Design
The church is built of Portland stone in the Perpendicular Gothic style. The facade has tracery windows and a central gable, flanked by two large ornamental pinnacles, with two smaller ones at the corners. The church was originally designed with three recessed entrances, but the flanking ones were converted into windows in the 1970s. The side elevations of the building are divided into bays by buttresses and originally had Gothic-headed windows.
In 1900, the Southern Times described the church as the "handsomest building in the Island", noting the "commanding and attractive" exterior and "spacious and well arranged" interior. The Weymouth Telegram praised it as a "beautiful building outside and in" and added: "The builder, whose work, if slow, has been thorough, [and he] may well be congratulated upon its general appearance."
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Dorset South & West Methodist Circuit - Underhill - website page
2) Dorset South & West Methodist Circuit - Underhill history - Stuart Morris - 1972 - website page
3) Methodism in Portland and a Page of Church History - Robert Pearce - Charles H. Kelly (publisher) - 1898 - book
4) Portland Year Book 1905: Churches & Chapels etc. - Historical notes with records of incumbents and ministers - website page
5) The British Newspaper Archive - various contemporary newspaper articles - website page
History
Establishment of Methodism on Portland and Brackenbury's original chapel (1791-94)
Portland's original Methodist following was a small society of approximately twenty members which was established in the mid-1740s through the efforts of the local quarryman William Nelson. The society was strengthened in 1746 when Rev. Charles Wesley stayed at Nelson's residence in Fortuneswell and began preaching across the island. Although the society dissolved after Nelson's death in 1770, the arrival of preacher Robert Carr Brackenbury to Portland in 1791 saw a new, larger Methodist following formed, with the assistance of George Smith. Brackenbury purchased a dwelling in Fortuneswell and soon began preaching from his new residence. When attendance numbers soon surpassed the capacity of the house, he hired larger premises in the village and then formed plans to build a small chapel at his expense.
In April 1792, Brackenbury obtained a plot of land in the southern region of Fortuneswell and commissioned the construction of a chapel and minister's house. The chapel opened in January 1793 after gaining its preaching license from the Court of Blandford "for the public worship of God by a congregation of Dissenting Protestants called Methodists". Meanwhile, Brackenbury began to focus on increasing Methodist numbers in Tophill. He initially hired a house in Wakeham for preaching in 1792, but decided to purchase a nearby house in the same hamlet in 1794. Although he returned back to Lincolnshire that year, both Brackenbury and his wife continued their association with the Portland circuit.
After Brackenbury's death in 1818, his wife had the chapel and house at Fortuneswell, along with the house at Wakeham, transferred to fourteen trustees of Portland's circuit the following year. As a continued "friend and benefactress" to the island, Mrs. Brackenbury paid for the construction of Tophill's first purpose-built chapel at Wakeham in 1825 and established a Wesleyan Day School in Fortuneswell, near Brackenbury's chapel, in 1845. The school later became an infant school in 1936 and finally closed in 1991 with the opening of the new Brackenbury Infant School.
Construction of Underhill Methodist Church (1898–1899)
As the 19th century progressed, Portland's Methodist following continued to increase in line with the growing population of the island. In particular, the mid-19th century transformation of Portland Roads into a harbour of refuge, the various government works linked to it, and the increasing military presence at Portland, resulted in large increases to Portland's population and its Methodist following. While a new chapel was opened at Easton in 1855 to serve Tophill, Brackenbury's chapel at Fortuneswell, which had become too small to meet the requirements of the congregation, underwent modernisation and alteration in 1864.
As the centenary year of Portland's Methodist following approached (1891), the Wesleyan trustees and congregation of the Fortuneswell chapel announced their intention to celebrate the occasion with the building of a new chapel. Although no new chapel was built by the time of the centenary, in 1896 it was determined to replace the chapel, which was "inadequate for the requirements of the society", with a new building on or near the existing one, for an intended £2,500 to £3,000 cost. The trustees wished to build the new chapel on land they already owned. As a result, it was necessary to demolish the minister's house behind the chapel to allow it to remain open while the new one was being built.
The plans for the new church were drawn up by the architect Mr. Robert Curwen of London and construction commenced on 30 May 1898 with the laying of twenty-six foundation stones during a well-attended ceremony. Present was Lieutenant Molyneux of HMS Boscawen on behalf of the Royal Navy and Captain Sant of the 5th Fusiliers (stationed at the Verne Citadel) on behalf of the British Army. Following the ceremony, a public tea was held in the Wesleyan schoolroom, along with an evening meeting in the old chapel. By the time of the ceremony, approximately £2,500 had been raised towards the cost of the new church.
The church, which was able to accommodate 732 worshippers, was built by the local builder Mr. John Patten and cost £3,264. Work progressed well throughout the year, with the Southern Times commenting in December 1898: "Judging from the exterior, [the chapel] bids fair to be one of the finest specimens of ecclesiastical architecture in the Island". It was completed the following year and first opened for Divine Service on Whit Monday, 22 May 1899, with opening services continuing into June.
The final services held in the 1792 chapel were carried out on 3 June 1900 and the building went on to be used by the Sunday school from May 1901. It was finally demolished in 1903 to make way for a new manse, now known as Brackenbury House. In 1902, a new organ was installed in the church, replacing a small American organ that was deemed ineffective during services. It was built by Messrs. D. P. Conacher & Co of Huddersfield at a cost of £450 and was formally opened during an evening recital on 19 November. In c. 1926, the church was extended at the back with the construction of a hall. It was paid for by Mrs. Rebecca Siggs in memory of her husband George Siggs, a former Sunday school teacher of the adjacent Wesleyan Day School. In c. 1935, repairs and redecoration work was carried out to the church.
In 1933, a new Portland Methodist Society was formed after the unification of the Wesleyan, Primitive and United Methodist Churches the previous year. From that time, Underhill was served by three Methodist places of worship: the 1899 chapel, the former Bible Christian chapel at Maidenwell and the former Primitive Methodist chapel in Fortuneswell. By the 1970s, it was no longer financially viable to operate three chapels within the same area and the decision was made to close the two latter chapels, leaving Underhill Methodist Church to serve the congregation. Amidst this reorganisation, work was carried out between 1970 and 1971 on the modernisation of the church's interior, with much of the cost being funded by a legacy left by Robert Bruce Monger. The work included removing the galleries, adding a vestibule, transforming the two entrances either side of the central one into windows, adding new fittings and erecting a wooden screen in front of the organ. Further renovations in the late 1990s aimed to "amplify [the] beauty and openness" of the church.
Closure (2022-)
In its final years as a place of worship, the church formed part of the Dorset South & West Methodist Circuit, which was established in September 2018 with the merging of the Portland, Weymouth, Dorchester and Bridport circuits. The church held its final service on 3 April 2022, leaving Easton Methodist Church as the only Methodist place of worship on the island. Both the church and former Brackenbury Infant School were put up for sale by informal tender in October 2023 with a guide price of £400,000.
Design
The church is built of Portland stone in the Perpendicular Gothic style. The facade has tracery windows and a central gable, flanked by two large ornamental pinnacles, with two smaller ones at the corners. The church was originally designed with three recessed entrances, but the flanking ones were converted into windows in the 1970s. The side elevations of the building are divided into bays by buttresses and originally had Gothic-headed windows.
In 1900, the Southern Times described the church as the "handsomest building in the Island", noting the "commanding and attractive" exterior and "spacious and well arranged" interior. The Weymouth Telegram praised it as a "beautiful building outside and in" and added: "The builder, whose work, if slow, has been thorough, [and he] may well be congratulated upon its general appearance."
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Dorset South & West Methodist Circuit - Underhill - website page
2) Dorset South & West Methodist Circuit - Underhill history - Stuart Morris - 1972 - website page
3) Methodism in Portland and a Page of Church History - Robert Pearce - Charles H. Kelly (publisher) - 1898 - book
4) Portland Year Book 1905: Churches & Chapels etc. - Historical notes with records of incumbents and ministers - website page
5) The British Newspaper Archive - various contemporary newspaper articles - website page
Gallery
These images can be enlarged by clicking on them. Some images have information attached to them, and to view this you can either enlarge the image or hover the mouse over each thumbnail.
Interior
Many thanks to the Dorset South & West Methodist Circuit for providing access to the church for the following photographs which were taken in November 2023.
