Anyone who has been to see a musical or theatrical production there will have been hard pressed to ignore the signs of its much older and longer legacy as a chapel built in the name of the Countess of Huntingdon.

The chapel finds it origins in the early 18th-century religious movement of Methodism, which had a different interpretation of the accepted doctrine of the Church of England than the mainstream.

By 1748 there was a well-established following for the Methodist movement in the city, but followers seemed to have to face considerable prejudice. In that year, the Berrow’s Worcester Journal wrote:

‘Last Sunday evening some Methodists being assaulted at a house in Cooken Street [modern Copenhagen Street] in this city…A mob beset the house, and broke all the windows &c, which put the inmates in so terrible a panic, that they ceas’d their devotions.’ In spite of harassment and objections to their beliefs, the Methodist congregation in the city continued to practice and grow.

Local historian Annette Leech says that for ‘decades later, the general view of the Methodists was still that they were an illiterate mob.’ This likely refers to the movement’s association with the working classes which may well have influenced the decision to build the chapel in the comparatively-poor area of Bridport.

The Countess of Huntingdon was a particularly influential character in the movement. Born Selina Shirley in 1707, she was the daughter of the 2nd Earl Ferrers. In 1728 she married the 9th Earl of Huntingdon and took on the married title of Mrs Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon.

Her sister-in-law inspired her conversion to the new Methodist movement founded by John Wesley. Following her husband’s death in 1746 she took on a key role in its administration and advocacy.

The Countess eventually established her own branch of Evangelical Methodism and formed what’s known as ‘The Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion’. A ‘connexion’ simply means a circuit of prayer groups. When she visited the city in 1769, her following numbered only 200, but today she is considered one of the most important and influential figures in the Evangelical Revival movement.

The chapel that still stands today was built in 1804, over a decade after the Countess’ death in 1791. It replaced a smaller chapel that had stood there since c.1770. The chapel was enlarged in 1815.

Historic England describe the building’s interior decor as a ‘fine intact survival’, with many of the original features still present.

Worcester was profoundly influenced by non-conformist Christian groups in the 18th and 19th centuries and Huntingdon Hall is one of several buildings that survive and attest to this legacy.

This location fact has been provided by Joe Tierney of Faithful History. To learn more stories of the ancient city of Worcester, spanning thousands of years of history in ‘The Faithful City’, visit https://www.facebook.com/faithfulhistoryworcester