East Anglia Methodist Heritage Centre

A Recent Visit

Recently, in April 2026, I was able to visit the East Anglia Methodist Heritage Centre. Since 2023, this has been located in the former Primitive Methodist Chapel in Wighton near Wells-next-the-Sea. It is usually open in the summer two days per week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, from 11am to 3pm.

Above and below – brochure for East Anglia Methodist Heritage Centre in Wighton

Wighton Primitive Methodist Chapel

According to the heritage centre’s website, the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Wighton opened in 1874 and this date is visible on the front of the building. At its height, over 120 people worshipped at the chapel. However, in 2019, the Wighton and Wells congregations merged and, since then, the chapel at Wighton has no longer been used for worship.

Our Visit

The centre is staffed by volunteers who gave us an extremely warm welcome. We found parking at the side of the chapel and an interesting feature is the facilities for cyclists including puncture repair kits! As advertised in the brochure, the centre has an accessible toilet. The volunteers offered us hot drinks and biscuits. There is a jar by the door with a suggested donation of £2 for refreshments.

We were there for most of the day and the volunteers graciously allowed us to eat our sandwiches in the seating area in the main part of the heritage centre. There were other visitors while we were there including an off-duty volunteer who was, with a friend, walking the route of a pilgrimage from Wells to Walsingham and a woman who lives in Wighton who was part of the chapel and who now visits the centre each day when it is open.

Centre Layout

The largest room of the chapel houses the main exhibits of the heritage centre. These are displayed clearly and thoughtfully according to a number of main themes. Just inside the door is a collection of secondhand books which are available for a donation.

Inside the East Anglia Methodist Heritage Centre in Wighton in April 2026

In addition, there is a reference library in a room and extension at the back of the chapel. This contains a fascinating array of books, leaflets and photos. It is quite incredible the number and range of materials that the team has assembled in what is a relatively small space.

Personally, I found a number of items of great interest to me including some things I had been looking for for some time. I briefly describe those here.

Ministers

There are a number of photos of former Methodist Ministers including one I found of Rev Reginald Hopper, a former Minister at St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 124.

Rev Reginald Hopper – picture from Methodist Recorder obtained from East Anglia Methodist Heritage Centre

There are also displays about other Ministers I have encountered in mum’s diaries including bus driver Jack Burton and hymnwriter Fred Pratt Green, see Chapter 124.

Jack Burton

Jack Burton was born in Norwich in 1939. He studied theology at Handsworth College in Birmingham and served as a Minister in Glasgow and Littleport in the early sixties. However, he then left full-time Ministry becoming a “worker-priest” employed as a bus driver by Eastern Counties. He wrote a number of books and was a columnist for the Eastern Daily Press. He married his wife Molly in 1961. In the late eighties, he became Sheriff of Norwich. In August 2023, he died aged 83.

Photos of Rev Jack Burton from local news cuttings including driving a bus (left), with his book “*Transport of Delights*” (centre left) and as Sheriff of Norwich (centre right). Right – front cover of “*Transport of Delights*”.

Fred Pratt Green

The heritage centre also has a display featuring the well-known Methodist hymnwriter Fred Pratt Green. He was born in September 1903 and died in October 2000. He served as a Methodist Minister from 1928 to 1968. It seems that he lived in retirement in Norwich including spending the last ten years of his life in a care home in Norwich.

Well-known Methodist Minister and hymnwriter, Fred Pratt Green, retired to live in Norwich. Photo from local press

Local Preachers

In addition to photos of Ministers, I also found some photos of local preachers including one of Charles Lemmon. He was Rev Peter Lemmon’s father and was well-known as a Methodist local preacher. Born in Shouldham, West Norfolk, he worked for the Inland Revenue and moved to Norwich in 1957. In 1986, a news article noted that he was 86 and had been a local preacher for 70 years!

Photo of Charles Lemmon from the front cover of an illustrated LPMA report in 1993 obtained from the heritage centre

Chapels and Churches

There is a lot of information about the district’s chapels and churches both in the main room and, particularly, in the reference library where there is a whole row of files organised in alphabetical order of chapel.

This display illustrates that when larger chapels were built, existing chapels were often incorporated as a Sunday School or church hall. The lower picture, which is of St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church illustrates this.

St Peter’s Park Lane in January 2022, see Chapter 79 – the old Wesleyan chapel, that was converted to a church hall, is clearly visible. When we attended in the seventies, this was a church hall and I had no idea that it had been built on the shell of the old chapel. The hall as I remember it is visible in the photograph above. It appears that the old entrance was removed but then additional walls were added in front of the original wall

The centre’s wartime display features photos of Chapelfield Road Methodist Church which illustrate that the metal railings were removed as part of the government’s desire to obtain scrap metal for armaments. The first of these photos highlights the church’s origin in United Methodism, one of the three main branches of Methodism that united in 1932 to form the current Methodist Church, see Chapter 17.

Wartime display at Methodist Heritage Centre

I also found some photos and drawings of other chapels mentioned in the diaries including Belvoir Street Wesleyan Reform Chapel which mum attended from time to time in the late sixties, see Chapter 90. The chapel closed and was replaced with housing.

Belvoir Street chapel as featured in photo held at the heritage centre

Calvert Street

Calvert Street Methodist was an important church that headed a circuit of the same name. Mum noted going there for a covenant service in 1966. However, the church was demolished that same year to make way for the Magdalen street flyover, see Chapter 79.

Lady Lane Chapel

I found a drawing of this chapel at the heritage centre. I know of it because it was the forerunner of St Peter’s Park Lane. It closed in 1939, the same year that Park Lane opened. The building was demolished in 1960.

Drawing of St Peter’s Wesleyan Chapel Lady Lane from heritage centre

A set of drawings of the different chapels that historically made up St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church. These were on a service booklet tucked inside the “*Church for All Seasons*” booklet. It looks like this might have been the service when St Peter’s Park Lane closed in 2013. I also found a letter from Margaret Culley inviting people to this service

Service Books

The heritage centre has a display of service books and other items used in services. I am interested in these because mum noted when the new service book was introduced at the end of January 1975, see Chapter 124.

Musical Performances

Also in the centre’s display on music, there are exhibits related to performances by a joint circuit choir of “Elijah” in 1975 and “The Messiah” in 1977. My mother was in this choir for both these performances, see Chapter 124.

Part of the music display at the heritage centre featuring performances of “*Elijah*” and “*The Messiah*” in the late seventies

Simon Miller Sound and Chi-Rho

My mother’s diary noted that on one Sunday evening in March 1976, Rev Elworthy took the service with Simon Miller Sound and Chi-Rho. I struggled to find information about these two groups.

I had previously found local news articles referring to Simon Miller Sound as a Norwich band between at least 1975 and 1982.

Chi-Rho is an ancient Christian symbol formed by merging the first two Greek letters in the word Christos. It seems they may have been a Christian group or band based at the UEA. In March 1977, they invited Tricia and some of her Methsoc friends from Cambridge to the UEA. I previously found multiple other references to them taking Methodist services in Norwich between 1974 and 1980.

At the heritage centre, I found reference to both these groups. I found a flyer for the Simon Miller Band in one of the folders related to Boys’ Brigade. Chi-Rho are mentioned in the book “A Church for All Seasons” by Joan and Jim Beckett in the section on the Methsoc story.

Flyer for the Simon Miller Sound from East Anglia Methodist Heritage Centre. Based on other photos I have seen, I think a number of the members may have belonged to 3^rd Norwich Boys’ Brigade Company. I am not sure who the drummer is but the other three kneeling are, I think, Paul Strangleman, Simon Miller and Rodney Bell. Standing between Simon Miller and Rodney Bell is, I think, Keith Self

Hard-to-Find Book(let)s

In the reference library, I found two book(let)s which I had heard about but had struggled to find.

“More Precious than Rubies“

The first book(let) I found in the centre’s reference library was “More Precious than Rubies” an illustrated history of Local Preachers Mutual Aid (LPMA) Homes written by Alfred J Gilliver.

I came across A J Gilliver as the speaker at the evening service at St Peter’s Park Lane on their Local Preachers’ Sunday in 1977 which coincided with the church hosting an LPMA aggregate meeting for more than 300 representatives the previous day. Mum noted this meeting particularly as she prepared communion for all the delegates, see Chapter 124.

Local news cutting from May 1977 concerning the meeting of the LPMA aggregate in Norwich

Initially, I struggled to find out much about A J Gilliver but established that he was a Methodist local preacher between at least 1958 and 1988, possibly based in London. I thought he may have written an illustrated history of LPMA Mutual Aid Homes entitled “More Precious than Rubies”. However, I had failed to find a copy of this. So, naturally I was delighted to find one in the centre’s reference library particularly as it contained a blurb about the author.

“A Church for All Seasons”

The second book(let) I found at the heritage centre that I was aware of but had struggled to find elsewhere was “A Church for All Seasons” by Joan and Jim Beckett. This gives a history of St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church from 1939 to 1975. I think this was produced for an evening service my mother attended in October 1975 which was part of the church anniversary and was entitled “St Peter’s – This is Your Life”, see Chapter 124, not least because the opening page is headed “St Peter’s – This is Your Life”! I am not sure why the booklet was titled “A Church for All Seasons” rather than “St Peter’s – This is Your Life“.

The heritage centre copy appears to have been owned by Connie Harvey and/or Margaret Culley and is heavily annotated. The book(let) presents histories of St Peter’s Lady Lane and the original Park Lane chapel. It also has a list of Ministers from 1922 to 1940 and annotations extend this list to 2001. Other sections cover the church at war; the stained glass window; the church and its Ministers; the circuit structure; long service; by faith and work; the heating fund; the pantomimes; over 65 club; youth work; the new church hall; the Methsoc story; drama and films; the midweek scene; the choir; our American visitors; and in days gone by.

The section on the church and its Ministers details the Ministers at Park Lane from 1939 to 1974 while the section on circuit structure explains in detail which chapels were in which of Norwich’s five circuits including when and how they merged.

Family Photos

I was somewhat amazed and delighted to find photos of family members and other people mentioned in the diaries.

Jess Cushing

My grandfather mentioned a Jessie Cushing in his diary in relation to my grandmother’s involvement with the women’s group at Drayton Methodist Church. I believe she joined the group in 1975 and, in February of that year, she visited grandma in her home, see Chapter 124. Grandma also volunteered at the canteen of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and, on occasions, Jessie Cushing went with her, see Chapter 116.

I was therefore pleased to find that in the centre’s folder on Drayton Methodist Church, there were a number of photos of the women’s group including at least one featuring Jess Cushing.

Photo of Drayton Women’s Fellowship Garden Party in 1987. This is some seven years after my grandmother died. It features Jess Cushing at the extreme left. Apparently, according to another annotated photo from the same event, she was living in the United States. Photo from East Anglia Methodist Heritage Centre

Women’s Fellowship Outing to Glandford Shell Museum

In the same photo album at the heritage centre, there were photos of a Drayton Women’s Fellowship outing to Glandford Shell Museum in August 1979. These featured other people mentioned in the diaries particularly Mary Bettany and Arthur Elsegood, see index of people.

Mary Bettany was a friend of my grandmother’s who stayed with her in October 1978. She brought her guitar to my grandmother’s in February 1975. The Bettanys went to Lowestoft with my grandmother and family friend, Amy Wilson, in August 1978.

Arthur and Rose Elsegood were very close family friends of my grandparents. Rose was active in the Drayton Women’s Fellowship with my grandmother whereas Arthur and my grandfather often did practical jobs together including at the chapel.

Photos of Drayton Women’s Fellowship trip to Glandford Shell Museum in 1979 featuring Mary Bettany, Arthur Elsegood and Jess Cushing

Ethel Parkin

The first page of the album of photos of the Drayton Women’s Fellowship held in the heritage centre’s library features several photos of my grandmother, Ethel Parkin.

Alan Drew

My brother Alan Drew was an active member of the Boys’ Brigade. At the heritage centre, I found a number of folders referring to the 3^rd Norwich Boys’ Brigade Company which was the company to which Alan belonged. In those folders, I found a number of photos of Alan and activities he was involved in. The first of these show Alan, Paul Strangleman and Nigel Finnemore receiving some kind of awards. I believe this probably was the annual parents’ evening in July 1974 when Alan won the Recruits Cup, Nigel won the Boys’ Cup and Paul won both the NCO Cup and the John Fearn Trophy.

News report of annual parents’ evening for the 3^rd Norwich Boys’ Brigade Company in July 1974

Also, I found some images of a Boys’ Brigade camp from 1975, one of which clearly features my brother. Based on my mother’s diaries, my brother went on a number of Boys’ Brigade camps between 1975 and 1978 in places such as Oulton Broad and Trimingham.

Photos of 1975 Boys’ Brigade camp with my brother featured in red rectangle – images from heritage centre

My Reflections

We had a brilliant visit. We were made to feel very welcome and I found a range of things of interest to this project many of which I would not have found anywhere else. It is a great resource and those who have made it happen are to be commended.

I imagine it could be of interest to a wide range of people including:

Those visiting North Norfolk who want to find out more about an important but often overlooked aspect of East Anglian history
Methodists interested in the history of their movement particularly in East Anglia
People exploring their family history who, like me, might not be Methodist but who find Methodism in their family and are interested in finding out more.

I am sure anyone who visits the centre will receive a warm welcome as we did.

Drew Family Diaries