In the Primitive Methodist Magazine of 1851, Charles Jackson reports the opening of Upper Moss Lane Primitive Methodist chapel in Hulme, Manchester.
The 1851 Ordnance Survey town plan of Manchester shows the area as largely rural with the start of a grid-iron pattern of streets -the chapel is not shown; the site is empty. On the 1891 Town Plan it is a densely populated area of terraced housing and the chapel is located at the junction of Hancock Street with Upper Moss Lane. The 1908 map shows an adjacent Sunday School. On the 1950 Ordnance Survey map, the chapel has disappeared although the Sunday School remains. The whole area has since been redeveloped; in terms of the current street pattern it was approximately in the area of Culmington Close.
The chapel cost £1,200 to build, half of which was raised by the opening date. Designed in “the Tuscan style of architecture”, it measured 54′ x 45′ with a 30′ interior height. The front included “a good seven days’ clock for the benefit of the public”. There were several rooms in addition to the worship area, including a school room underneath for 400 scholars.
The chapel was opened just in time for the the 1851 Census of Places of Public Religious worship. The return, completed by the minister, Charles Jackson of 44 Wardle Street, Hulme, shows large attendances with 400 attending in the evening – 100 below the average! – and Sunday schools morning, afternoon and evening.
The 1877 Primitive Methodist magazine contains a note recording the enlargement of the Primitive Methodist chapel at Upper Moss Lane.
Reference
Primitive Methodist Magazine of 1851 pp. 111-112
Primitive Methodist magazine 1877 page 569
Ordnance Survey maps accessed through www.oldmaps.co.uk
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Thanks to Katherine, I have added the Roll of Honour as a pdf document to the page.
If you require more information about this document, your enquiry can be passed on to Katherine by Englesea Brook Chapel and Museum.
My Barker and Wootton connections in Manchester were very involved with the Upper Moss Lane Primitive Methodist congregation (particularly Ambrose Barker, who has a profile in the “People” section of this website). It’s likely for this reason that a copy of the “Roll of Honor: Present and Past Associates of the Church and School for the Upper Moss Lane Primitive Methodist Sunday School Institute” dated January 1918 turned up in the family papers I inherited after my dad died. Four sons of William Wootton and Emma Barker (Arthur, Edward, Fred and Charles) are listed, as are many other young men from the congregation (approximately 321 — too many to list here). There are blessedly few annotations of “missing, fallen, or prisoner of war.” I’ve sent a .pdf copy of the document to the Englesea Brook Chapel and Museum of Primitive Methodism.
Hi
This is very interesting. I am a direct decendant of the first marriage at the Upper Moss Lane chapel (Benjamin Broadmeadow and Ellen Davies are my 2G-grandparents). I am keen to learn anything that is available on this chapel as information seems scarce.
Thanks
Alan (Broadmeadow)
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