Circuit Preaching Plans

Circuit plans are a useful source for people and places. They include people who were local preachers and itinerant ministers, and sometimes stewards. Women were sometimes indicated by initials only.

Plans provide evidence for when a chapel (or preaching place) in a particular place was in existence. They have also been used to explore working class history, and the social life of communities. See: William Leary, Methodist Preaching Plans: a guide to their usefulness to the historian (1977). Chapels are organised in circuits, and a plan covers a whole circuit. The name of the circuit was often the largest nearby town.