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The Primitive Methodists
On East Lane, Embsay is a building with a plaque that reads “PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHAPEL 1822”. Despite being written in stone, it is not true. It did not become the Primitive Methodist Chapel until 1839.
The building was originally erected in about 1810 as the Union Chapel and had a plaque over the door that read ‘A House of Prayer for all People’. It was used by the various non-conformist groups in Embsay which included the Congregationalists or Independents, the early Methodists, and the Swedenborgians who initially shared it amicably. However, in 1821 that was all to change.
On 21st July 1821 a group of Primitive Methodists led by John Flesher of Silsden marched up East Lane singing their hymn “Come, O come, thou vilest sinner, Christ is ready to receive …”. They held a boisterous outdoor meeting with prayers and singing in a field in the village, probably on the site of the present car park, where they immediately attracted new followers.
By 1822 they had 52 signed up members and began using the Union Chapel. But from the start they were less accommodating than the other denominations. Over the next 10 years the Primitive Methodists obstructed the other groups and argued that ‘The Independents and the Wesleyans have forfeited their claim to the Chapel by not preaching in it according to the Chapel deeds…’. The Congregationalists eventually retreated to their Chapel on Newmarket Street, Skipton, and the Wesleyan Methodists to the Chapels at Eastby and Skipton.
This left the Swedenborgians as their only remaining contenders. Things came to a head in 1832 as recorded by both the Swedenborgians and the Primitive Methodists. An altercation took place when the Swedenborgians printed hand bills announcing a preacher to preach in the Chapel at a time when the Primitives were due to hold a service. The Swedenborgians found their way barred by ‘Brother William Carthy’ of the Primitive Methodists who ‘entered the pulpit and maintained his ground’. The Primitive Methodists won the day.
However, following the Swedenborgians next service they locked the building and when the Primitive Methodist preacher arrived he found the doors locked and no key was obtainable. The Primitive Methodist Circuit Report records that other members of their congregation arrived soon after along with a joiner named John Berry who removed the gate and used it as a ladder to enter the building through an upstairs window. With the use of a poker he opened the door from the inside which was met with a triumphant shout, and they entered the building with much rejoicing.
In 1833 the Primitive Methodist Circuit Report recorded that they had ‘a little trouble at the present time with a chapel at Embsay, which is called a Union Chapel, and of which we consider ourselves the proper owners; but we hope the measures recently taken will set the matter at rest’.
These measures led the Swedenborgians to build their own chapel on Pasture Road which was opened in 1833 and called the New Jerusalem Church. The Wesleyan Methodists eventually opened their own chapel on Main Street in 1839.
As the sole remaining occupants of the Union Chapel the Primitive Methodist Connexion was able to purchase the Union Chapel in 1839 and name it as their own. They eventually replaced the original plaque with their own, but falsely included the date of 1822.
The Primitive Methodists were a breakaway group who considered that the Methodists were growing closer to the practices of the Church of England and had turned away from the teachings of John Wesley since his death in 1791. In particular the Methodist Conference in 1803 barred women from preaching, and in 1807 they banned outdoor preaching which had been central to John Wesley’s ministry. Various groups opposed the banning of outdoor meetings and on 31st May 1807 a 14 hour outdoor meeting was held on the hilltop of Mow Cop in Staffordshire attended by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes who went on to found the Primitive Methodist movement. It was based on sending out travelling preachers to spread word, and reaching out to the poor, and their simple form of evangelism quickly spread. They called themselves Primitive because they wanted to go back to the early primitive Christian church which John Wesley had espoused. In 1813 they appointed their first female preacher Sarah Kirkland who later became a travelling preacher. Their loud outdoor preaching led to them being commonly nicknamed ‘The Ranters’. Two of the Embsay converts on the 21st July 1821 were Christopher Hallam and Peter Pedley and both went on to become travelling preachers. Christopher Hallam’s son John later became National President of the Primitive Methodist Conference.
Christopher Hallam of Embsay (1806-1873), Travelling Primitive Methodist Preacher
By the 1840’s there were Primitive Methodist chapels in Skipton, Embsay, Bradley, Carleton, Gargrave, Addingham, Farnhill and Barden. And by 1900 there were 5,000 Primitive Methodist Chapels in England and Wales.
In 1932, following a general decline in church attendance, the Primitive Methodists, Wesleyan Methodists & United Methodists joined together to become “The Methodist Church of Great Britain”. The Embsay Primitive Methodists combined with the Wesleyans at the Centenary Chapel on Main Street, and the former Union Chapel was sold and converted into houses.
NEXT TIME: PART 6 – THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS
David Turner, Embsay with Eastby Historical Research Group
Categories: All, History Posts
