The return from the Primitive Methodist society in Cranborne to the 1851 Census of Places of Public Religious worship showed that they were meeting in Rehoboth chapel which was built in 1828. The return was completed by the minister, Thomas Powell. He tells us that the Prims were meeting in a chapel used by the Wesleyan Methodists until 1848.
The date is confirmed by the 1849 Primitive Methodist magazine (page 563) which also tells us that the society then had 15 members. Mr Butt owned the former Wesleyan chapel and leased it “at a reasonable rent” when the Wesleyans built a new chapel.
44 people attended the morning service and 86 people attended the evening service.
The 1886 Ordnance Survey map shows a Primitive Methodist chapel on Salisbury Street, opposite the end of what is called Drugs Lane. However, it is called Ebenezer, so is a different chapel to the one in the 1851 Census. On Street View it is not clear whether any element of that chapel still exists, although it is highly likely as the footprint appears largely unchanged.
Where was Rehoboth chapel? Was Ebenezer a rebuild on the same site?
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I have added Mark’s pictures – thanks Mark – and checked the name of the road. It is called Drugs Lane on the 1886 Ordnance Survey map, but by the 1900 map it is changed to Grugs Lane. Was this a deliberate choice, or the simple correction of a transcription error?
I was in Cranborne recently and managed to get a couple of photos which I am sending separately. It certainly appears that the chapel is intact behind the garage of 29 Salisbury Street. There was not time to see if the owner was in and ask if I could get a better photo. Incidentally, it is Grugs Lane (not Drugs).
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