Upper End Primitive Methodist chapel

Peak Dale Methodist church, the former Upper End Primitive Methodist chapel closed in 2014 due to falling congregations.  It was available for sale at £125,000.

Upper End Primitive Methodist Society dates back to the 1860s.  The chapel opened on 30th March, 1881, almost a year after the stone laying ceremony.  As was the way at  the opening of a Primitive Methodist chapel,  there was a celebration tea, served to over 400 people in the schoolroom on the opposite side of the road.  The chapel cost £675.

You can read more about significant members of the society and more of the story on the nabsend website – see below.  They include  Solomon Wood, John Lomas. William Jackson, Thomas Maycock, William Huckle, Wilfred Hackle, John Joseph Howe, and Miss Laura Morten.

Chapel members played a leading role in local society, including the organisations such as the Band of Hope

Whilst most Primitive Methodist societies established a Sunday school, unusually, the Primitive Methodist society in Upper End provided the first day school in the village in a building opposite the chapel.  It served for some 20 years until replaced by a new Board school which opened in the early 1880s.

The Certificate on this page was presented to Elizabeth Newton in 1879, three or four years before the school closed, in recognition that she had passed Standard 1 in Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Grammar.  Her teacher was Henry Stiles and FB Lott was Her Majesty’s Inspector.

The certificate measures 18cm x 23cm and consists of a white card, which has a decorative border of acorns and oak leaves, the green on the picture is only a backing sheet.

Reference

https://www.nabsend.co.uk/more_than_ch2.html  accessed 19th April 2023