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There are two distinct churches which I have confused previously. I
am not alone in this, but I now think that the account here is the
correct one (June 2006). They are close together and one, the Herculaneum Wesleyan
Chapel, is not shown on the
1905 maps used here on the site. The 'chapel'
shown on the 1905 map at the corner of Grafton Street and Wellington
Road, is the Seamens' Chapel and not the Herculaneum Wesleyan Chapel.
 The original
Herculaneum Wesleyan Chapel (Methodist) was built about 1800
at the end of Chapel Place, which was off Grafton Street. It
is shown on the 1847 OS map (right). Note the shape of Chapel Place
and the arrangement of houses within it,with the Chapel at the
end.
It was built, circa 1800 by Messrs. Worthington, Humble and Holland, of
the Herculaneum Pottery, for their Staffordshire
workers.
This date would make it the third oldest place of worship in Toxteth,
after the Ancient Chapel and St James's Church. Around forty Staffordshire
potters arrived en masse on 11th November 1796. They occupied houses said
to have been specially built for them on
Park Terrace (shown on the above map) in Grafton Street between Beresford Road and Thornton's yard
and in some small houses which stood between Wellington Road and Harlow Street in Chapel Place, off Grafton Street.
These
were known locally as `The Potteries'. and are entered as such in some
trade directories of the period.  The workers were largely Methodist and Methodist preachers of the time would preach here.
It remained a privately-owned chapel until
1835 when it was renamed The Herculaneum Wesleyan Chapel (Methodist).
When
the pottery closed
in 1841 the congregation are said to have moved to new premises on Grafton Street however
the 1847 map shows them still in their original home, next
to Laverock (sic) Bank, so this appears
not to have been the case.
This painting
from 1859 shows the chapel still standing as well as 'The Potteries'.
The actual move by the congregation was documented in
1870 when the congregation combined with that of Miller Street Methodist
Free Church (which had been built as a chapel some
time before 1870), Both buildings were closed (Miller
Street became Ebenezer
Hall ) and the combined congregation moved to the newly-built
United Free Methodist Church in Wellington Road in 1871.
The
Herculaneum Chapel was demolished at some date unknown after
this. It had been described as "this small, inconveniently
situated chapel which was in an alley and accessible by a flight
of steps".
The site is vacant on the 1890 map,
and Chapel Place is identified as Court No. 23.
Chapel
Place itself is still on the 1905 map and an examination
of map 5b (bottom of page) shows  an un-named building at the end
of a small cul-de-sac. I was tempted to think that this was the correct
situation to be the remains of the chapel but although it looks like Chapel Place and corresponds
well in dimensions
and shape, this was actually the adjacent court and the
small building was part of the Lavrock Bank enclosure which
in 1890 was a Corporation stables, soon to become an incinerator
plant. The courts (for there are two), the building and both
chapels (the Herculaneum having been drawn in) are all shown
on this 1890 map and an aerial photograph of some 30 years later
still shows the same features which I have colour coded for
interest and to show the site of the Herculaneum Chapel.
 Philip
Mayer has pointed out that Chapel Place is shown on the
1953 OS Map and indeed a glimpse exists on the left hand
edge of the Grafton
Street 'courts' photograph on page 53 of 'A Tram Ride to
the Dingle' (though not on the cut-off version of the picture
used on toxteth.net) - so as Philip points out Chapel Place
actually lasted until at least 12th January 1956. In fact another
LRO photograph taken on 12th July 1959 shows part of this
same scene but with Chapel Court gone, so demolition of the
court was between these two dates.
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