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St. Andrew's Wesleyan Church, Pump Street

  • 1 Feb 2019
  • Worcester People and Places
  • Back

In 1795, four years after the death of  John Wesley's death, the Wesleyan's in the City bought an old chapel in Pump Street belonging to a branch of Independents. It was surrounded by tumbledown houses, and like all the early dissenters chapels, was tucked away up an alley way so not to invite trouble from the mob. 

In 1873, the chapel was again demolished and another built, which stood until 1965, when it too was demolished. The new Wesleyan Church of St. Andrew's built in 1966, is on the same site but is elevated over the new shopping development. It is interesting to speculate how long this one will last. Behind the church, with an entrance in Friar Street, the Wesleyan's had a day school, doing excellent work before the days of state education.

Pump Street was the main Wesleyan church in the City, but there were others. In the return of certifiable places of worship, ordered by Parliament in 1882, the following were enumerated as belonging to the Wesleyan Methodists; St. John's Chapel, Pump Street, Boughton Street Chapel, St . John's, Bull Entry Chapel belonging to the Wesleyan Reformers, Zion Chapel, Park Street for the Wesleyan Methodists Association.