The provision of Primitive Methodist places of worship 1867

The 2,879 places of Primitive Methodist worship registered before 1867 have been listed and mapped by county on this site. Those maps give an indication of the density of the chapels: the area served. It is also possible to map the number of people served, using 1861 population figures.

There are a number of points to note:

• The high levels of provision in two rural areas: Norfolk, Lincolnshire and the East Riding in the East, and the Welsh Marches (Shropshire, Herefordshire and Radnor)
• The well provisioned swath of rural counties along the chalk escarpment, from Portland Bill to the East Yorkshire cliffs.
• The lack of provision, marking a lack of impact, in the South-East and South-West of England.
• The clear division between Welsh and English speakers in Wales: Primitive Methodism was an English denomination.
• The scale of the mapping, which is at county level. The individual county maps reveal some strong contrasts between registration districts.
• The relatively high numbers of people per chapel in the industrial areas of the country raises the question of whether the map illustrates provision of chapels or density of population.
• Comparison of these figures with those for Wesleyan Methodism highlights the relative strength of Primitive Methodism in Norfolk and the Welsh Marches, and a comparative relative weakness in Cornwall and Nottinghamshire.