The Old Chapel, Robin Hood's Bay
Encyclopedia
The former Wesleyan Chapel
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

on Chapel Street, Robin Hood's Bay
Robin Hood's Bay
Robin Hood’s Bay is a small fishing village and a bay located five miles south of Whitby and 15 miles north of Scarborough on the coast of North Yorkshire, England. Bay Town, its local name, is in the ancient chapelry of Fylingdales in the wapentake of Whitby Strand.-Toponymy:The origin of the name...

, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, was built in 1779. John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

 is recorded as preaching there on 28 June that same year.

When built, the chapel was separated from the cliff top by a row of cottages, a road and a grass bank, but in 1780 there was a major cliff fall, bringing the cliff edge within feet of the building.

The author Leo Walmsley
Leo Walmsley
Leo Walmsley was an English writer.He was born at 7 Clifton Place, Shipley in the county of West Yorkshire in 1892, and two years later his family moved to Robin Hood's Bay on the coast of present-day North Yorkshire, where he was schooled at the old Wesleyan chapel...

was educated in the chapel's schoolroom.

In 1936 a new Methodist church was opened in the upper village, and services were transferred away from the chapel.

Alternative uses

Since closure as a chapel, the building has had various uses, including a time as a fisherman's store, an artist's studio (during the 1950s), an exhibition centre (from 1987),and a secondhand bookshop and vegetarian cafe (until 2005).

The Present (2007)

The lower floor of the Old Chapel is currently in use as a cafe and giftshop, and the upper floor (formed from the gallery area) is now the Swell Cinema.
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