Dunstable Yesteryear - Methodist Church is rebuilt after disastrous fire

The gentlemen in the foreground, the trustees of the church, had every reason to be proud. Only 11 months previously they had been in shock when the previous Wesleyan Chapel was destroyed by a disastrous fire. But within a few days they were already making plans to erect a completely new building. The present church on the Square, with its tall steeple providing a landmark in the town, is the result.

The fire, on September 14 1908, was the largest in a series of unexplained arson attacks in the area. The blaze was witnessed by hundreds of townsfolk who saw the burning roof collapse onto the chapel’s new organ, installed only the previous year with the help of funds provided by Andrew Carnegie, the American millionaire.

Remarkably, by August the following year, the new church was already taking shape. Steel support girders were in place and bricklayers from the Aylesbury firm of Webster and Cannon were hard at work – except when they stood perfectly still for this photograph! The site foreman is the man in the bowler hat on the right.

The Rev J Warren Millward, Superintendent Minister, is seated in the front row next to Joseph Flemons (third from right) who owned a well-known chemist’s shop in the town. The younger man with the straw boater is unidentified but behind him, with the white waistcoat, is Miles Taylor, proprietor of the Dunstable Borough Gazette. Standing next to the site foreman is Cornelius Vater, a furniture dealer who owned the business in Middle Row which later became Stotts and is now the Celebrations card shop.

Shops in High Street South which can be glimpsed in the background include todays Launderette business.

Yesteryear is compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society.