Northwich Primitive Methodist Chapel

This chapel was built in 1842

Northwich: Return from the Primitive Methodist chapel in the 1851 Census of Places of Public Religious Worship
transcribed by David Tonks

This chapel was built on John Street. It replaced two cottages and the Northwich Public Bath House. These were all built in 1830. The bath house was not a financial success. When the site had been cleared it was bought by the Primitive Methodists who up to that time had been worshipping in their homes.

The chapel was only used until 1877. One presumes that the Primitive Methodists needed a larger building and so they moved to a new building (begun in 1876) on the corner of Witton Street and Brook Street. This was called the Bourne Chapel. It survived on that site until 1989 when the second Bourne Chapel replaced it. Unfortunately this chapel only survived 10 years as it subsided and had to be demolished. The present Northwich Methodist Church stands on that site today.

After the closure of the John Street Chapel it opened again on 28th July 1877 as the Northwich Victoria Club. A group of Northwich tradesmen had got together to form a gentlemen’s club – The Northwich Victoria Club Company.(it is one of the oldest registered companies and one of the first registered clubs).The chapel building was extended to include a billiards room, a reading room, library, a function room and a bar.

After World War 2 membership of the club dwindled and the Freemasons took it over when their building had to be demolished due to subsidence. A redevelopment of the town centre in the 1960s left the chapel building still intact!! Although the Freemasons continued to use the building it did deteriorate. The building escaped another very recent and still on going redevelopment and it was put up for sale. The Freemasons moved out and the building was bought by Gavin Edmondson Solicitors. It has undergone extensive renovation and underpinning and the whole of the inside is completely new.

In 2017 the outline of the 1842 chapel can still be seen with added extensions. Maps pre 1877 indicate that part of the building is the 1842 chapel as there is no record of any planning applications. A car park partly surrounds the building.

 

With acknowledgements to:=

Nick Colley – local historian.

Brett Langston – Research and Collections Officer in the Cheshire Archives.

Sue Wakeford – Townscape Heritage Officer for Northwich.

 

Photos taken August 2017

OS Map Ref:118:SJ660739

 

 

Comments about this page

  • I’ve added a return by John Aspinall, the Minister, to the 1851 Census of Places of Public Religious Worship for Northwich Primitive Methodist chapel. It dates the chapel as 1848. Is this the same chapel as on this page or a different one?

    By Christopher Hill (02/10/2020)
  • The 1877 Primitive Methodist magazine (page 569) contains a note of the opening of a new Primitive Methodist chapel at Northwich. We are told nothing more.

    By Christopher Hill (16/05/2020)
  • The Primitive Methodist magazine for 1834 (page 277) contains an account by R Hill of the opening of Northwich Primitive Methodist chapel on 13/10/1833 & 14/10/1833, ten years before the date of the chapel above.  Is it the same chapel?  A forerunner?  Entirely different?  

    Described as a “neat edifice with pews to seat 70 persons well attended,” it measured 24′(w) x 30′(l).  Opening services were taken by James Bourne & R Hill (Sunday) and Mary Crossley (Monday).

    By Christopher Hill (21/08/2017)

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