Historic Sunday school could be demolished to make way for housing

An application has been submitted to Bury Council seeking permission to pull down Chapel House, in Smyrna Street, Radcliffe, which has fallen into disrepair.

The building, which was erected in 1883 and has more recently been used as a joinery workshop, could be flattened next month in order to make the site suitable for housing.

According to the application there “has been no interest in anyone using the building and it has fallen into disrepair”, so developers are seeking to transform the site in the same way the street’s former Methodist church was replaced by the Chapel Court complex.

A heritage statement submitted with the application said: “By 1855 a Church/Sunday school was financed on the corner of Ainsworth Road and Smyrna Street which gradually became over-subscribed.

“More floor space was required, so in 1883, a date stone was laid by William Agnew MP to commemorate a separate Sunday school on a new site in Smyrna Street, our subject building.

“The style of the building was modest, with no over-embellishment, as is the Methodist creed. Simple brick walls were constructed with arched brick soldier lintels and stone sills. The simple symmetry of the front elevation is topped with two stone pinnacles, a concession to the building’s standing in society.”

The Sunday school building was sold in 1962, when the Methodist New Connexion Church amalgamated with others to become the New Wesley Methodist Church, and has since been used as a joinery workshop.

The report adds that outbuildings and extensions have been added “in haphazard manner” and that the premises cannot compete with purpose-built business units.

Slates brickwork and stonework from the 19th century building would be salvaged for re-use after the building is dismantled.

It is proposed that demolition work begins on October 17.