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Rawcliffe Street Methodist Church - Key Dates

1869. In the late 1860s, Ebenezer Wesleyan Society began meeting in the Temperance Hall, between Bolton Street and South Parade.
1869. Ebenezer (Rawcliffe Street) Wesleyan Methodist Church was founded. Ebenezer Wesleyan Society purchased land in Rawcliffe St and built the Rawcliffe Street Ebenezer Wesleyan Chapel, which opened on 2 September 1869. The building could seat 350 worshippers. The architects were Thomas Bird and Sons of Manchester, and the builder was R W Braithwaite of Blackpool.
1870. A Sunday school for 250 children opened next door to the church.
1888. Building of a new Rawcliffe Street Wesleyan chapel started on the corner of Moore Street, next to the old church.
1889. The new church opened on 14 June 1889 and the old church was then used as a school.
1895. Kelly’s Directory (Lancashire), page 107, included details about the church: 'The Wesleyan chapel, Rawcliffe Street, South Shore, opened in 1889, in a mixed Gothic style; the tower is not yet completed; the cost, including the organ was £5,050, and there is accommodation for 700 persons; there is a memorial window to the late Francis Parnell in the chancel at the West end; there are two other memorial windows, one given by Thomas Ward, the other by William Kenyon in memory of his mother.'
1924. Kelly’s Directory (Lancashire), page 194: 'The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Rawcliffe Steet, South Shore, opened in 1889, is in the Gothic style; there are memorial windows to Francis Parnell and others, and sittings for 700 persons.'
1971. Rawcliffe Street Methodist Church was closed on 25 July 1971.
1972. The church buildings were demolished in 1972 and replaced by Clarence Court flats by 1974.
1972. Four stained glass windows from the Church were moved into the South Nave of Holy Trinity Church, Blackpool. They depict the four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).