"The Wesleyans, after improving their two large chapels in
Snargate Street and Buckland, next took steps to provide another chapel
on a more central site to meet the convenience of modern Dover, which
straggles a long way up two valleys. They secured the site at the
point where the two valleys diverge at the foot of St. Martin's Hill,
part of the site of the old Dover Priory. There they built the
handsome Wesley Hall for services and Sunday Schools, which was opened
in November, 1910. The Wesley Hall, which cost £3,000 to build,
had the misfortune, on September 22nd, 1917, to be destroyed in a German
air raid. After the war it was re-built, and re-opened on March
3rd, 1920. The Wesleyans also acquired the adjoining property,
with the intention, later on, of building a large central Wesleyan
Church. As far back as 1880 the leading Dover Wesleyans set their
minds on this locality, which had attracted religious leaders in Dover
in 1131, when they were looking for a new site for the Dover Priory."
(J.B.J.)
