The 1851 Census of Places of Public Religious Worship includes a return from Tanfield Primitive Methodist chapel completed by Matthew Smailes, the steward, who lived at Flint Hill, near Tanfield. It attracted good congregations, averaging 100 in the afternoon service and 150 in the evening. The chapel building dated from 1834.
What the survey doesn’t tell us, is where the chapel was. Thanks to John Walley for sterling work in tracking down evidence of where the chapels were – see John’s comments below. Finding the location was not straightforward. Tanfield Urban District contains several distinctly separate residential areas and John found no evidence of a Primitive Methodist chapel in Tanfield itself.
Old Ordnance Survey maps locate a chapel in Hobson which still exists in use as a builders’ merchant. It carries the date 1890.
Whilst there was no Primitive Methodist chapel in Tantobie, there was one in Whiteley Head, now part of Tantobie. It was located almost opposite the end of Bute Street. In 2024 there is modern housing on the site.
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Researching the chapels in the Tanfield area and have added this not to try and avoid confusing and double entry of the same chapels.
The obituary of George Oates 1851 – 1902 a miner, mentions he started off at Tantobie Chapel and later moved to Tanfield PM Chapel (Hobson). Tantobie did not have a PM Chapel (Wesleyan), the next door village of Whitley Head did show a PM chapel, so this might just be a local naming convention, so I have called the Tantobie Chapel “Tantobie (Whitley Head)”. Note to editor – please amend my text if it causes confusion)
A Primitive Methodist Chapel still exists on the plot, now used as office space for a builders merchant, the building fabric appears to be in good condition externally from street map image.
Location is 54.89632 -1.72994
The database shows the 1851 return for places of worship, so the date in the stonework today of 1890 and the “PM Chapel carving” on the roadside elevations would indicate a later chapel. The local area of Tanfield was a fair size and had other villages such as Tantobie and Tanfield Lea, so some caution on this one till researched further. Photo pending.
The closure date is unknown.
The Primitive Methodist church was an early 19th century (1807) secession from the Wesleyan Methodist church and was particularly successful in evangelising agricultural and industrial communities at open meetings. In 1932 the Primitive Methodists joined with the Wesleyan Methodists and the United Methodists to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain.
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