Dallow Road Wesleyan Methodist Church Luton

Dallow Road Wesleyan Methodist chapel on a map of 1924

Irving Rumbles in his useful booklet on Methodism in Luton in the 20th century states that Dallow Road Wesleyan Methodist church opened on the same day in September 1908 as Dunstable Road Wesleyan church. The site, on the corner of Dallow Road and Dale Road, had been acquired in 1904; it measured 108 feet wide by 80 feet deep [MB2348a]. The new church was part of the Chapel Street Wesleyan Circuit. In 1910 a grant was applied for to build a vestry. The form stated that the chapel had cost £1,400 to build, had 27 members and 150 regular congregation, the building measured 50 feet by 31 feet. It stated: “There is no vestry at present and such accommodation is sorely needed” [MB2348c]. There was a proposal to install a toilet in 1930 [MB2348d].

In 1932 Wesleyan Methodism came together with Primitive and United Methodists to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain. Dallow Road was transferred to the new Luton Methodist Circuit in 1933. The church was certified for weddings in 1958 [MB2348g].

In 1964 it was decided to merge Dallow Road congregation with the former Primitive Methodist congregation in Dunstable Road [MB2348i]. The Dallow Road chapel was sold to a Pentecostal Church – The Calvary Church of God in Christ - for £7,000 [MB2348i] and the two Methodist congregations moved into the Dunstable Road premises which was renamed Oakdale. At the time of writing [2014] the former Methodist church is Beulah Apostolic Church Centre.

Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service has the following records relating to Dallow Road church:

• MB2348a: erection of a church and school in Dallow Road: 1907-1908;
• MB675: Trust Treasurer’s account book: 1908-1942;
• MB2339: Trustees’ minute book: 1908-1965;
• MB2348c: papers concerning the addition of a vestry: 1910-1911;
• MB2348d: plan of proposed W. C. and alterations: 1930;
• MB2341: Leaders’ Meeting minute book: 1936-1940;
• MB676: Trust Treasurer’s account book: 1943-1945;
• MB2348e: plan of proposed new vestry: c. 1945;
• MB2342: collection journal: 1950-1962;
• MB2345: Sunday School quarterly meeting minute book: 1950-1966;
• MB2346: Sunday School annual meeting minute book: 1951-1963;
• MB2340: Trustees’ Treasurer’s account book: 1952-1965;
• MB2344: Wesley Guild Annual General Meeting minute book: 1953-1965; MB2347: Sunday School account book: 1957-1963;
• MB2348f: plans of proposed extension: 1957-1960;
• MB2348g: certificate of registration for marriages: 1958;
• MB2348h: report on bazaar: 1958;
• MB2343: collection journal: 1962-1964;
• MB2348i: closure of the chapel and sale of the premises: 1964-1965.