Wesley Memorial Methodist Church, Oxford - Open Doors Project

Wesley Memorial Church, Oxford - Open Doors Project

The existing Methodist church, listed Grade II, and the associated meeting hall are located in New Inn Hall Street in the centre of Oxford where the Methodist movement began around 1730.

The Trustees embarked on a project to make the Church’s premises more welcoming, hospitable and flexible and to allow them to better serve the needs of the local community and the city of Oxford as well as the regular congregation, users, visitors and staff. As part of the project, a new Heritage Hub has been developed, completed in Autumn 2021, which links the Victorian ecclesiastical building and the associated halls. Its purpose is to explain their Mission and place within world-wide Methodism.

Their project, completed in four phases, looked to create new spaces, refurbish existing spaces and provide additional facilities including the new Heritage Hub housed in a top-lit atrium with a structural glass entry porch accessed from New Inn Hall Street. This enables better visibility and improved access from the street for the many community activities supported by the church. The project also provides a stair lift to the first floor, new meeting rooms, a full catering kitchen, and a refurbished main hall and John Wesley Room.

Although the full project has only recently been completed they have already seen what a great impact the extended and refurbished premises have made on the church users.

Additional Images and Details are available on the Gray Baynes + Shew website 

Banner and Summary Image Copyright: Gray Baynes + Shew

Photographs Below Copyright: Dr Peter Forsaith