Upper Seagry and Methodist Chapel

Methodist Chapel; 2023

As you arrive at the signpost for Upper Seagry / Drive Carefully / 30, you have a choice. If you are happy to carry on walking along the roadside through the village, then continue up the hill.

If the weather is nice, and you want to detour around the next section, through fields, look for the finger post pointing to the left. This will add an extra 1.3km (nearly a mile) to your route. Also, you might need a map, as the detailed instructions for this section are not given here. You will eventually come to the main road at the Goss Croft Hall, where you can rejoin the route on the app.

If staying with the short route, along the road, continue to follow the app into the village.

Just after the footpath, on the right of the road, you will see Dove Cottage. A cottage has stood on this site since before 1790. After about another 100 yards / metres, you will see an old Methodist Chapel on your right; note that this is now a private house / home.

On the opposite side of the road, behind the hedge, is a development of houses and flats called The Courtyard. These were built on the footprint of the original stables for Seagry House.

Continue straight ahead to the crossroads, past the New Inn, and then turn left to the Village Hall, known as Goss Croft Hall.

Seagry Methodist Chapel

Methodist Chapel; 1851 Census Return

The Seagry Primitive Methodist Chapel is believed to have opened in Seagry in 1825, although it is not shown on the 1840 map. The chapel appears in the national 1851 'Census of Places of Public Worship'; Isaac Teagle, the church steward, recorded that 103 people attended the morning service and 120 attended in the evening.

The building originally consisted of a house at right angles to the main chapel; both buildings were were quite small, but their ceilings were raised in the late 1800s. This was the nearest Nonconformist chapel to Sutton Benger, as the Wellesley and Long families prevented one from being built in the parish.

Sunday services were still being held in the chapel in the early 2000s, but it closed in about 2008 and was converted into a home in 2010.

Location