Villiers Street, Bethel Chapel
Villiers Street, Bethel Chapel
HER Number
4461
District
Sunderland
Site Name
Villiers Street, Bethel Chapel
Place
Sunderland
Map Sheet
NZ45NW
Class
Religious Ritual and Funerary
Site Type: Broad
Place of Worship
Site Type: Specific
Congregational Chapel
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Hanoverian 1714 to 1837
Form of Evidence
Demolished Building
Description
Built in 1811 according to Mackenzie and Ross, and 1817 according to Pevsner. Built for the Independent Congregationalists. Enlarged in 1826 at which time substantial underground burial vaults were built to the north (HER 16557). Designed by a Mr Hogg for Independent seceders from Presbyterian meeting in Robinson’s Lane. Five-bay pedimented façade of rendered rubble with an entrance door and segmental window in a slightly recessed entrance bay. The chapel was similar in layout to St. George's Chapel further down Villiers Street (HER 4457). The chapel was out of use by 1933. Demolished in 1978/9 apart from its northern wall which also forms the southern wall of the adjacent Sunday School (HER 16556). This was finaly demolished in 2010.
In 2010 the crypts were excavated and recorded before demolition.
In 2010 the crypts were excavated and recorded before demolition.
Easting
440100
Northing
557000
Grid Reference
NZ440100557000
Sources
N. Pevsner (second edition revised by Elizabeth Williamson), 1983, The Buildings of England: County Durham, p 450; The Archaeological Practice Ltd., 2014, List of Non-Conformist Chapels in Sunderland;
Brown, L, D., and Town, M. 2018. Bethel Chapel Crypt, Villiers Street, Sunderland: Post-excavation Assessment report, North Pennines Archaeology and Bradford University, HER4855
Brown, L, D., and Town, M. 2018. Bethel Chapel Crypt, Villiers Street, Sunderland: Post-excavation Assessment report, North Pennines Archaeology and Bradford University, HER4855