Audley Methodist Church – A Short History

The first Methodist chapel was built in Audley in 1810 closely followed by the creation of a Sunday School in 1812. The original chapel was enlarged in 1838 to accommodate new mining families moving into the area as new collieries opened. Early documentary evidence is virtually non-existent, as education was limited and Methodist stalwarts were unable to read or write, but they could sing – how they could sing... The New Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1876 in Chapel Street with a capacity of 725 seats, it was adjacent to the now Ravensmead Day School, which was built by the Wesleyan Methodists in 1903 on land purchased by them in 1899. Audley Methodist Church is unusual in having it's own private burial ground known as "God's Acre".

Records from 1882 show there was a register of 521 boys and girls at the Sunday School with an average attendance of 362, plus 42 teachers. The Central Methodist Sunday School building was built in 1954 and following the closure and demolition of the Wesleyan Chapel in 1972 services were held in this building. Enough monies were raised to build the existing chapel on New Road in 1990, and in 2003 the congregations of the two remaining chapels in the village (Audley Peoples and Audley Central) joined together to become Audley Methodist Church.