The Wirral: Primitive Methodist Societies and Chapels

The ancient Hundred of Wirral is defined on three sides by the Irish Sea and the Mersey and Dee estuaries.  The southern boundary is the England-Wales border which follows the course of the River Dee as it was before the ‘New Cut’ in 1737 canalised the river on the Welsh side of the estuary.  Finally, the eastern boundary is formed by the Shropshire Union Canal; the section between Chester and Ellesmere Port was built in 1793.  After the 1974 Local Government re-organisation, the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral was established; its southern boundary crosses just north of Parkgate, Willaston and Hooton, these places now being in Cheshire West and Cheshire.

I have identified 24 Primitive Methodist societies in the Hundred of Wirral, and 32 PM chapels; only four of the buildings still exist: two are still Methodist places of worship (Little Neston and Willaston), one has been converted into flats (New Ferry Beaconsfield Road) and one has reverted to being a general farm building (Poulton-cum-Spital).

Between 1840 and 1890 there was a steady rise in the number of PM chapels from 1(?) to 14.  The number then remained steady until 1940 when it declined over the next three decades because of:

• falling membership
• rationalisation of Methodist chapels after Reunification
• replacement of deteriorating buildings with new ones.

There were various arrangements of these chapels into circuits.  Those in the north were initially in the Birkenhead Branch of the Liverpool Circuit (eg. see the 1859 Q2 Preaching Plan for the Liverpool Circuit); then in 1859 a separate Birkenhead Circuit was formed (eg. see the 1889 Q2 Preaching Plan for the Birkenhead Circuit).

Those in the south were part of the Chester Circuit which was first formed as an independent PM circuit in 1825/6.  In the second half of the 1800s this circuit was split into Chester 1^st Circuit headed by the George Street chapel (eg. see the 1882 Q4 Preaching Plan for the Chester 1st Circuit), and Chester 2^nd Circuit headed by Commonhall St chapel.  Then in 1890, Chester 3^rd Circuit was formed, headed by Tarvin Road chapel, Boughton (eg. see the Plans for all three Chester Circuits in 1894 Q3 Preaching Plan for the Chester Circuit).  Two years later, a new Ellesmere Port Circuit was formed, splitting off from Chester 1^st; it was headed by the Upper Mersey Street chapel and joined by Whitby chapel and Pooltown society.

The following table shows all of the chapels and societies in Wirral found to date.  Societies without chapels are shown in italics.   More details about each of these chapels and societies can be found in the Chapels>Cheshire section of this website.