The return from the Primitive Methodist chapel to the 1851 Census of Places of Public Religious worship was completed by the minister, Rev William Leaker, and the society steward, Henry Withers of Wilton. They report that the chapel was recently opened on September 23rd 1849 – and was not big enough for the congregation. It seated 70 people with a further ten standing but this was not big enough for the number wanting to attend and the society could not afford to enlarge it.
On Census Sunday 52 attended in the afternoon and 55 in the evening. There was a Sunday school with 15 scholars in the morning and 20 in the afternoon.
I cannot see a Primitive Methodist chapel on old Ordnance Survey maps. Where was the chapel and what happened to it?
Comments about this page
Thanks Jeff. Can anyone provide a picture please?
Taken from “A spreading flame” 200 years of Methodist Building in Paulton 1776-1976.
“The Primitive Methodist movement had spread to Paulton in the early stages of the 19th century and the first meetings were held in the cottage homes of James and John Carter at Newtown. In 1819 these cottgaes were reconstructed to form the first Primitive Methodist chapel in Paulton ,at the end of Butchers Lane.”
“The growth of the Primitive Methodist cause made it necessary in 1866 to enlarge the little chapel in Newtown and this took up most of the land available. ”
“The Primitive Methodist cause also continued to prosper, and in the 1880s it again became necessary to have a larger chapel. There was no room to enlarge the existing one at Newtown, and the trustees therefore obtained a new site on the opposite side of the road at the bottom of Tennis Court Road. Here a fine new Chapel, 38 feet long and 23 feet wide, with a vestry at the end, was erected and opened in 1889.”
“In 1909 a new schoolroom was added, the stone for it being quarried by members of the congregation”
Following the closure of Newtown the property has since been converted to residential accommodation.
Add a comment about this page