Methodist History
Headless Cross Methodist Church History by Elsie Haden
Methodism in Headless Cross dates back to the early 19th century. The first services were held in a cottage in Webheath and then in a cottage at 44 and 44A in Birchfield Road. The spiritual and general care of the village was entirely provided by "Wesleyans" until St. Luke's was opened in 1843.
The first Chapel was opened in 1827 in Evesham Road, on the present site. In 1873 a new Chapel was built to meet the needs of the growing congregation, the new building seating some 300 persons. It was, however, discovered that the building quality was quite poor and on the 24th of March 1895 a severe gale caused the roof and gables to fall into the road. Services were continued in the schoolroom which had escaped damage.
The present church was opened in 1897.
After our Centenary Celebrations held in 1997 & 1998 which seemed to go so quickly we settled down to our usual programme of events. We did a course called ‘Charting a New Course’ led by Rev’d Barrie Cooke and worked forward on our church mission and premises. It was then we discovered the Dry Rot problem and looking more closely into it we found it would be terribly expensive to try to cure it. We set up a Steering Group to try to alter our premises and met with still more problems
An Appeal was launched to raise money for new premises which raised about £100,000 but we realised we needed a partner to work with.
On Ash Wednesday, 25th February 2009, Headless Cross Methodist Church and St. Luke’s became one church called The Bridge based on the St. Luke's site.
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