For those not in the know The Church Mirco Series is intended to be as big a cache size as you can muster, Steve (sadexploration) explains.
Click here page 4.
The series is called ‘Church Micro’ I encourage cachers to hide as large a cache as possible. It’s just that Church 2.5 Lt clip box’ didn’t quite roll off the tongue as well.
So onto the church description.
The first Methodist Chapel at Westfield, costing £500 was built in 1869. The present building was completed in 1898 and is still used for formal worship and many activities involving the local community.
The earliest recorded date of a Methodist Society at Westfield was 18th March 1851, and it is assumed services were held in private homes. In November 1860 a cottage occupied by a Mr George Hobbs was used as the meeting place for members of the Primitive Methodist Denomination and registered for ‘Worship and Conduct of Marriages’.
The present school hall was the first Primitive Methodist Church at Westfield. The land for the Church was secured December 1867 and the Church completed for opening services at Easter 1869. This building was registered for ‘Worship and Conduct of Marriages’ on 16th November 1869. The cost of this building was approximately £500. The lease for the land however was obtained five years later on 28th February 1874 from the Rt. Hon. Frances Elizabeth Anne Countess Waldegrave, being approximately 26 perches, with the Church (present school hall) at one end and a small schoolroom at the other end. This small schoolroom would originally have been used by the Sunday School which was started July 1869.
The present Church was registered ‘For Worship and Conduct of Marriages’ on 26th April 1898, building having commenced in 1896. The date on the Foundation Stone is 14th October 1896, the cost being approximately £800. The stone was quarried by miner members of the Society and hauled to the site by a member with his horse and cart. With the opening of the new Church in 1898, the old church building was then used as the Sunday School with opening shutters (which are still used) built into the adjoining wall to enable both buildings to be used for large gatherings when necessary.
The small schoolroom was then redundant and plans were drawn up to convert it into a caretaker’s cottage, but for some unknown reason this did not happen. This room was used for meetings during the week until destroyed by a heavy duty road vehicle in the early hours of a summer morning in 1975.
See related web page for more info.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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