Bere Knap Primitive Methodist preaching place

The return from the Primitive Methodist society in Bere Knap near Compton to the 1851 Census of Places of Public Religious worship shows that they met in  a house – a preaching house.

There was no regular minister, but services were taken by around 40 different local preachers.  One of them – John Merefield of Compton – competed the return.

Afternoon attendance was 60 worshippers with around a further 40 in the Sunday evening.  All seats were free and there was room for around 12 people standing.

Bere Knap Preaching House is the predecessor of the chapel at Twyford in Dorset.  John Merefield, the Local Preacher who signed the Return in 1851, was still around in 1860 when the new chapel opened.  In 1851 he was an agricultural labourer age 44.

Ordnance Survey maps of the later Nineteenth Century do not show a chapel of any sort at Bere Knap and Google Street View  is not brave enough to go there. Mark Churchill notes that a newbuild house is on the site.