Ramsbottom Primitive Methodist chapel 1833

Ramsbottom lies on the River Irwell about 4 miles north of Bury and about 4 miles south of Rawtenstall.

This chapel was the first Primitive Methodist chapel in Ramsbottom; it was succeeded by one built in 1862 in Bridge Street which was itself replaced by one built in Bolton Street in 1889.

1833:  According to the 1851 Census Return, the chapel was built in 1833; it had 120 free sittings and 100 other sittings.  It can be seen on the 1844-47 6” OS map, an L-shaped building immediately north of the Grant’s Arms Inn (a Grade II listed building, still existing, partly converted for commercial use including a veterinary practice).

1. Tillotson reported in the Primitive Methodist magazine 1834, p. 112 that the Ramsbottom Primitive Methodist chapel in the Bolton Circuit was opened on 1/09/1833 – but as the day was so wet the opening day was repeated once everything had dried out. The fund for the new chapel was started by a gentleman with £20 and he let the society have the land at one penny per yard chief rent.  The chapel measured 24′(w) x 30′(l) x 21′(h). The Sunday school had 150 members.

The History and Directory of Mid Lancashire 1854 states in the Shuttleworth section, Ramsbottom entry on page 701:

‘The Wesleyan Methodists have a Chapel in the Market place, erected in 1825, at a cost of £500, and the Primitive Methodists have one in Bridge street*, erected in 1833, at a cost of £250, and enlarged in 1852, at a cost of £240.  These Chapels are also used as Day and Sunday schools.’

* The location given in Bridge Street is a strange error – a premonition of the 1862 Bridge Street chapel!!

1851:  William Platt, secretary, provided the Census Return for the chapel: the adult attendance in the afternoon was 38 and in the evening, 47.  The Sunday school attendance was 72 in the morning and 65 in the afternoon.

1852:  The entry from the 1854 Mid Lancashire Directory above mentions that the chapel was enlarged in 1852.  The 1891 OS Town Plan shows the division of the building into a chapel lying NE-SW and scaling at about 32 feet x 16 feet with a schoolroom adjoining to the NW about 17 feet x 16 feet.  The chapel footprint on the 1844-46 map is the same shape and scales at about the same dimensions; it is difficult to relate these dimensions to those reported in the Primitive Methodist magazine.  The only change to the footprint that could represent the 1852 enlargement is the south-west extension to the chapel scaling at about 14 feet x 8 feet.

1857:  The first mention of a Ramsbottom chapel in the Bury Times was on 11 July – a report on sermons preached on the previous Sunday.

1861:  The Bury Times reported on 8 June:

Camp Meeting at Irwell Vale. – On Sunday last, very interesting out-door services were conducted by the Primitive Methodist Societies of Irwell Vale, Ramsbottom, Edenfield, and Summerseat, in a field near Alderbottom [just over ½ mile west of Edenfield].  The attendance was good considering the state of the weather, and no doubt the attendance would have been very large had the day been fine.’

1862:  Barrett’s Directory of Bury, Heywood, etc 1883 p.304 Ramsbottom, states that ‘the PM chapel in Bridge Street was built in 1862’.  Presumably the 1833 chapel closed then.

1940s:  The 1833 chapel building continued to appear on maps (unlabelled) up to and including the 1938 25” OS map; the 1947 1:25,000 map appears to show the site vacant.

The chapel site is currently covered by the car park immediately north of the Grant’s Arms Inn, 11 Market Place, BL0 9AJ.