"The Methodist Church was designed by the architect Albert Edward Lambert and opened on 16 May 1906. It cost around £6,500. (£624,425 as of 2015)"
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"Castle Donington links with methodism go back almost as long as methodism itself. It is well documented that the founder of the methodist church, John Wesley, visited Castle Donington numerous times betweem 1742 and 1743. His reasons for doing so at the time was to vist his friend and patron, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon who was at the time resident in Donington Hall.
The first record of him preaching in the area was on June 13th 1741 where he preached in both Melbourne and Hemmington. However the first record of him preaching in Castle Donington was Saturday July 28th 1770. His journal for that day is as follows :-
I rode to Castle-donnington, but haymaking had emptied the town till a violent shower brought all the haymakers home, who received the good word with gladness.
By 1776 methodism had firmly take root here and Castle Donington was the most important place on the great Leicester circuit. This can be seen from the accounts of money received, where the Castle Donington church raised more than Asby-de-la-Zouch, Burton-upon-Trent, and Loughbrough put together and more than twice that raised in Leicester. In fact for 13 years Castle Donington continued to pay the largest quarterage in the Leicester circuit.
At the time there was no actual church, but a Chapel-house which served as both church and residence of the minister. This continued until 1823 when a purpose built chapel was built on the site of the chapel house, on the corner of Dovecote and Apiary Gate(Almost opposite to the present St Edwards primary School). The account books record the following :-
Finished pulling down the Old Methodist Chapel, May 5th 1823; began to build the New Chapel, May 7th 1823. The dimensions, 42 by 36 feet clear within.
The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel which stood on the corner of Apiary Gate and Dovecote. It was opened in 1823 and later became the County Cinema. It is now the site of private garages.
Worship continued here till 1905 when the present church was built and so giving the present two spire outline to Castle Donington we see today.
The design was by the Nottingham architect, AE Lambert, whose work also included the Albert Hall Methodist Mission, and the Midland Railway Station in Nottingham. Pevsner's Leicestershire volume in the Buildings of England series described this church as being designed in the typical Nonconformist free Gothic style of the date.
The foundation stone for the present church was laid on Wednesday 16th May 1905 and it was officially opened on Wednesday 17th May 1906. The building has recently been listed by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport: earning a Grade II listing on account of its being a handsome and unusually complete example of an Edwardian Methodist Church."
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