Hitchin Primitive Methodist chapel

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Hitchin Primitive Methodist chapel

The 1900 Primitive Methodist magazine rues the decline of the Baldock society as the population moved from agriculture to rapidly growing urban areas.  The  Primitive Methodist minister in Baldock, Rev T Wallis,  took the bold step of moving the manse to one of the growth areas – Hitchin.  A new society was established with 30 members and they met regularly in the Town Hall reading room.

David Peter Noble’s thesis tells us that land for a new chapel in Nightingale Road, Hitchin was purchased from the Hitchin Gas Company for £140 in 1899.  Although donations for the new venture were said to be ‘gratefully received’ there is no indication as to how the land cost was financed. In 1900, the foundation stones for a new – but modest – chapel were to be laid “about Whitsuntide”.   The new chapel was expected to cost £500, still a considerable sum for a small society with members of limited means.

Where was the chapel on Nightingale Road? The premises of SP Motors looks like a former chapel and carries the date 1901.  Was that it?

Sources

Primitive Methodist magazine May 1900 page 395

David People Noble (October 2020) Primitive Methodism in Hertfordshire from 1838 to  1918: A socio-economic and demographic study. University of Hertfordshire PhD thesis viewed online