Playhouse Theatre and Zion Chapel, Stafford

Description:The Playhouse Theatre in Martin Street was formerly known as The Lyceum Theatre. Built in 1792, the theatre was visited by Charles Dickens during his brief stay in Stafford in the 1840s. This photograph was taken after the building was destroyed by fire in 1912. After the fire, the theatre was repaired and used as a warehouse by J. Brookfield and Son, who produced animal feed. The building was demolished in the 1920s to make way for the County Laboratory.

On the right can just be seen the Congregational Church, also known as Zion chapel. The church was opened with a service from the Reverend J. Boden in 1812. He had encountered violence attempting to preach in the street in 1786. John Wesley had said, after visiting the previous year, that "there are few towns in England less infected with religion than Stafford". It is said that an Exciseman named Davies opened up his house in Martin Street to Boden for meetings. Later the small, struggling, congregation moved to a house in Back Walls at the rear of the Vine Hotel and in 1788 to a stable opposite the Vine which was fitted out as a place of occasional worship with preaching by visiting ministers from neighbouring districts. This situation prevailed until the chapel was built in Martin Street.

The church was enlarged and renovated in 1896 and 1897, including the addition of the Portico, which had previously been the colonnaded porch entrance for Stafford General Infirmary in Foregate Street. The church's plain front was replaced with a more elaborate one in keeping with this Portico. The church was demolished in 1965 to allow expansion of the council buildings. A replacement church was opened in 1966 at the corner of Eastgate Street and Cope Street, but this has since been re-purposed.