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It would appear that from 1859 Wesleyans were meeting for worship at a coffee house and dining rooms in Whittington Terrace, Upper Holloway. The society acquired its own premises when in 1864 a site was purchased in St John's Road and an iron building erected upon it. This was the site later occupied by the Archway Central Hall. In 1873 a far more substantial chapel was opened on the adjacent site - on the junction of five roads opposite the Archway Tavern, since Victorian times one of the busiest traffic centres in North London. Up to that point still part of the Islington (Liverpool Road) Circuit, Archway Road Chapel became the head of the newly formed Highgate Circuit (1873), which reached out to the new suburbs rapidly growing up on the Northern Heights.

Archway was one of no less than 85 Wesleyan chapels built in 1872. In 1932 it was decided to replace the crumbling, out of date building with a large Central Hall, to be set back from the busy and noisy Great North Road. It was to be the first central hall scheme initiated after Methodist Union and the last Central Hall built in London.

Source: http://www.londonmethodist.org.uk/index.html

Methodist services and a Sunday school were said to have been started in the coach-houses of Harefield Grove House, at that time belonging to Robert Barnes, a former Mayor of Manchester. Barnes built the church in 1864 and maintained a resident minister there. On his departure from Harefield in 1869 he offered the building to the Wesleyan Methodist authorities, whose property it became in 1871. The church hall was opened in 1906, but after the First World War the congregation declined in numbers. The Second World War brought evacuees to the village causing a slight increase, but in 1959 the chapel had no resident minister and was largely dependent on lay preachers. The Chapel is now closed.

From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 256.

The New Chapel, or as it later became known, Wesley's Chapel, was opened for public worship on 1 November 1778. It stood as a successor to the old Foundery Chapel bought in 1739 which was situated a few hundred metres to the south east.

The Chapel is important as the "Mother Church of World Methodism", the scene of many famous events such as the Uniting Conference of Primitive Methodists, United Methodists and Wesleyan Methodists in 1932. It also acts as the focal point of the City Road Circuit, also known as London East Circuit (1807-1823) and the First London Circuit. There has been much reorganisation as chapels closed and circuits were altered; for further details and names and dates of circuits, contact the Society of Cirplanologists who collect Circuit plans.

The Church is now disused. It was originally a Wesleyan Methodist Church in the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell. From 1965 it was in the London Borough if Southwark. It was in the Registration District of Camberwell. From 26 June 1972 the Congregation moved to Red Post Hill, North Dulwich and was renamed St Faith's Anglican/Methodist Shared Church. Marriage ceremonies continued to be conducted according to the rites and ceremonies of the Methodist Church. The Anglican parish church of St Faith, Red Post Hill continues to hold its services, and its registers are in the care of the incumbent.

The Wesleyan Methodist Church, Askew Road, Hammersmith, was founded in 1886 and built in 1890.

The Denbigh Road Methodist Church was founded in 1823 and built in 1856. The Lancaster Road Methodist Church was built in 1879. The two institutions subsequently merged and are now called the Notting Hill Methodist Church. The Church is based on Lancaster Road while the old Denbigh Road premises are used by the church as the Etheline Holder Hall.

Ponders End Wesleyan Methodist Church began when a chapel was built in 1849. In 1892, another chapel was built on the western side of High Street. Another Methodist Chapel, in Alma Road, existed from 1882 to 1898.

The building which was formerly the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel in Falmouth Road, Southwark, now houses the Nigerian church, the Church of the Holy Cross and Star.

Methodist services and a Sunday school were said to have been started in the coach-houses of Harefield Grove House, at that time belonging to Robert Barnes, a former Mayor of Manchester. Barnes built the church in 1864 and maintained a resident minister there. On his departure from Harefield in 1869 he offered the building to the Wesleyan Methodist authorities, whose property it became in 1871. The church hall was opened in 1906, but after the First World War the congregation declined in numbers. The Second World War brought evacuees to the village causing a slight increase, but in 1959 the chapel had no resident minister and was largely dependent on lay preachers. The Chapel is now closed.

From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 256.

Wesleyan Methodists registered a preaching hall in Upton Road (later part of Belsize Road) from 1861 to 1870. This may have been a forerunner of the Quex Road Methodist Church. The Church was built by Wesleyan Methodists on a site bought in 1868, and was registered in 1870. Attendance in 1886 was 356 for morning service and 400 for evening service; in 1903 attendance was 282 for morning service and 409 in the evening. A Church Hall was built in 1905. The Church was replaced in 1975 with small block of flats in Quex Road and a 2-storeyed church was built in Kingsgate Road.

From: 'Hampstead: Protestant Nonconformity', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 153-158.

Hounslow Chapel was built about 1874 as a Methodist church. Its use as a church ceased about 1939 and during the Second World War it was used as a British Restaurant. In 1948 the building was bought by the United Synagogues.

In 1860 the Primitive Methodists rented a hall in Market Street for worship, having previously organised Camp Meetings in Tall Trees Meadow, at the top of Caledonian Road. The congregation moved twice before building a chapel by the South gate of the market on the corner of Caledonian Road and Market Road, opened in 1870.

As with other chapels of the time Caledonian Road was created with a schoolromm in the lower part of the premises, the church services being held in the upper part of the building and its gallery. At some point (possibly 1892) a small classroom was added to the south side of the chapel to house the infant department of the Sunday School.

One of the principal Primitive Methodist churches in London, Caledonian Road hosted the Conference of 1873 . Several of its ministers held high office in the Connexion, including President of the Conference.

Well into the 20th century Caledonian Road was a thriving place. Daughter churches were set up over a wide area and the Primitive Methodist Circuit over which Caledonian Road presided covered an area stretching down to Westminster and out to the newly developing suburbs in Hounslow.

In 1976 the local Social Services team leased part of the building, necessitating internal alterations. the ground floor pews were removed, rostrum and pulpit were removed to create a multipurpose space and part of the chapel converted to provide kitchen, vestry and new toilets. Today 'Cally' continues as the only surviving Victorian Methodist chapel in the Borough of Islington.

Source: http://www.londonmethodist.org.uk/html/history_of_methodism_in_isling4.html

John Wesley visited Staines in 1771 and preached in a house which had just been fitted up for the purpose. He recorded an enthusiastic reception and according to the Anglican authorities the number of Methodists increased between 1778 and 1810. There does not seem to have been a proper chapel before about 1845, but the Wesleyan minister from Windsor registered a dwelling-house in Staines for religious worship in 1825. By 1865, and probably twenty years before, the Wesleyan chapel stood on the site of the present Salvation Army fortress in the Kingston Road. This chapel was replaced in 1890 by the present building in the Gothic style on the other side of the road. It is built in red brick with stone dressings and has a south-west spire. In 1957 the church had about 160 members.

From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 30-31.

The Wandsworth Circuit had orginally been part of the Hammersmith Circuit. In 1889 the Wandsworth Circuit was divided into several Circuits, one of which was the new Tooting Circuit formed of Upper Tooting, Lower Tooting, Wimbeldon and Merton Churches. This was renamed the London Mission (Tooting) Circuit at the end of 1923.

Emmanuel Mission Hall, Garratt Lane was founded in 1885 and its work was largely superseded by Tooting Central Hall built in 1910.

Balham Hill Methodist Church was in operation from 1898 to around 1920. The Wesleyan Church at Mitcham was built in 1908, the Southfields Methodist Society was founded in 1905 and this Society later built Southfields Central Hall.

Colliers Wood Methodist Mission was built in 1934.

The Primitive Methodists operated several Chapels in the area which later joined the London Mission (Tooting) Circuit following the Unification of the Methodist Church in 1932. The registers of baptisms for Lynwood Road, Upper Tooting include baptisms performed in other Primitive Methodist Chapels. The Church at Balham Hill (Oldridge Road) was formerly at 1 Balham Grove.

At a meeting of the Wandsworth Methodist Circuit in November 1902 it was decided to open a Wesleyan Chapel in Southfields to cater for the growing number of Methodist families in that area.

The first public service as held in the Merton Road School in December 1905. A School Chapel, with seating for 400 people, opened in Ravensbury Road in 1908. However, expansion was rapid and this was replaced in 1925 by the much larger Central Hall (on the corner of Ravensbury and Durnsford Road). In addition to being a place of worship the Central Hall was also intended to provide a meeting place for the local community. Music concerts and film shows were a regular feature for many years and parts of the premises were leased to local businesses.

The Leys School was opened in Cambridge in 1875, intended to be "the Methodist Eton".

The Leysian Mission was started in 1886 by former pupils of the Leys School who were concerned about the social and housing conditions in the East End of London. Its first premises were in nearby Whitecross Street but in 1902 the Mission moved into grand purpose-built premises in Old Street (just round the corner from Wesley's Chapel on City Road). It had vibrant evangelical and social ministries and encouraged alumni from the Cambridge school to give time to programmes that reached out to the poor. In the early days, there was a Medical Mission, a "poor man's lawyer", a relief committee, feeding programmes, meetings for men and women, and a range of services and musical activities.

Royalty patronised the Mission's great events and the school in Cambridge maintained strong links. However, the ravages of World War II and the advent of the post-war Welfare State saw a change in circumstance that led, eventually, to disposing of the buildings and the successful merger with Wesley's Chapel in 1989.

Source: http://www.wesleyschapel.org.uk/mission.htm.

Sunbury Methodist Church is situated on Staines Road East, Sunbury. A Methodist meeting-house was first established in Sunbury in 1790 but the present church was not built until 1866. The church is part of the Teddington Circuit.

The Sermon Lane Mission was founded in 1849 as the Sermon Lane Ragged School, Islington. The earliest surviving report in this accession locates the mission in Liverpool Road, Islington. By 1910 it is described as being in Mantell Street, Liverpool Road. By 1922 the Mission was known as the Sermon Lane Christian Institute and had moved to Vincent Terrace, Colebrook Row. The Institute closed in the early 1980's.

Plumstead Methodist Central Hall opened in 1905 on Plumstead High Street.

The London Methodist Districts Women's Luncheon Club met to share lunch and listen to guest speakers.

Trinity Church Methodist New Connexion was situated at Perry Vale, Forest Hill, 1865-1920. Forest Hill Methodist Church is now on Normanton Street.

The Angel Alley Methodist Chapel, Stepney was part of the London (City Road) Circuit.

The Methodist Mothers and Babies Home in Streatham was run by the Women's Fellowship. Its aim was to provide a safe place for vulnerable young women, in particular unmarried mothers.

The East Molesey Methodist Church is situated on Manor Road, off the main Walton Road, in East Molesey. It is part of the Teddington Circuit.

In 1878 the Primitive Methodists registered a chapel in Western Road, Southall.

The Wesleyan Methodists opened a chapel in South Road in 1885. In 1916 the King's Hall was erected on the same site, forming the headquarters of Wesleyan Methodism in the area and provided a place for their social and religious meetings.

The Uxbridge and Southall Circuit served Methodist churches in South West London. It was reorganised in 2006 and the churches redistributed, for example, to the Ealing Trinity Circuit and the Amersham Circuit.

Poplar Methodist Church is situated in Emery Hall, Annabel Close, near to Queen Victoria's Seaman's Rest. It is part of the Tower Hamlets Circuit.

Harrow Methodist Circuit is now Harrow and Hillingdon Methodist Circuit of 17 churches, covering the London Boroughs of Hillingdon and Harrow and stretching from West Drayton and Hayes in the South to Kenton and Wealdstone in the North. A Methodist circuit is normally a group of churches in a local area served by a team of ministers. A minister will have pastoral charge of one or more churches, but will preach and lead worship in different local churches in the circuit, along with local preachers. The arrangements for leading worship in a circuit are drawn up in a quarterly Plan.

For histories of the individual churches in ACC/3393 please see the sub-fonds record for each church (ACC/3393/BR, ACC/3393/CA and so on).

A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was first erected in 1810 on the eastern side of Lower Road, Roxeth, and accommodated 218 people. The chapel was registered in 1856, but was replaced in 1905 by a red brick Gothic building, with room for 650, in Bessborough Road. The chapel was closed in 1972 and the congregation joined theNorth Harrow Methodist Church.

Cannon Lane Methodist Church is situated in Pinner. It was opened in 1956. It is part of the Harrow and Hillingdon Circuit.

Harrow Methodist Circuit is now Harrow and Hillingdon Methodist Circuit of 17 churches, covering the London Boroughs of Hillingdon and Harrow and stretching from West Drayton and Hayes in the South to Kenton and Wealdstone in the North. A Methodist circuit is normally a group of churches in a local area served by a team of ministers. A minister will have pastoral charge of one or more churches, but will preach and lead worship in different local churches in the circuit, along with local preachers. The arrangements for leading worship in a circuit are drawn up in a quarterly Plan.

Eastcote Methodist Church began as meetings in private houses, begun in around 1825. In 1848 the first Methodist chapel was built opposite the present chapel in Pamela Gardens. This served the Eastcote congregation until a new chapel in Pamela Gardens, the building of which had been delayed by the Second World War, was substantially completed. The chapel was occupied in 1950 and building work finished in 1962.

There was a Methodist mission room in Harrow Weald from 1889 to 1935, and a chapel in Station Road, Wealdstone, from 1892 to 1904, when it was replaced by the present chapel in Locket Road (now Wealdstone Methodist Church, see ACC/3392/WE).

The Methodist Church on Ickenham Road, Ruislip, was founded in 1923.

A Wesleyan Methodist church was opened in 1929 to serve the new Kenton estate, near Harrow, and was replaced by another church and a hall on the same site, Woodgrange Avenue, in 1937.

Wesleyan Methodists in North Harrow met in a private house in Southfield Park until a hall was built in Pinner Road in 1927. It was extended in the 1930s and a church was built next to it in 1957.

In Northwood Primitive Methodists met in a house called 'Elthorne' in the modern High Street from about 1896. In that year a school chapel to accommodate 250 people was built on the corner of High Street and Hallowell Road. The present church next to the school chapel was completed in 1903. It was further extended in 1910, and a new vestry added in 1927. Enemy action caused considerable damage to the building in 1944. From 1905 a group of about 20 Wesleyan Methodists worshipped in a house in Chester Road. Two years later a temporary corrugated iron church was erected in Hallowell Road. After the construction of a permanent building in Oaklands Gate in 1924, the temporary structure was transferred there for use as a church hall. A new hall and classrooms costing £22,500 were completed in 1962. After the Methodist Union in 1932 these two churches became known as the High Street and Oaklands Gate Methodist churches.

From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 145-146.

Ruislip Common Chapel was built in 1854 and taken over for use by a Methodist congregation in 1882.

Ruislip Manor Methodist Church was built in 1937 on Torrington Road.

South Harrow Methodist Church is situated on the corner of Walton Avenue and Carlyon Avenue.

South Ruislip Methodist Church is situated on Queen's Walk. It was opened in 1951.

Harrow Methodist Church, Welldon Crescent, was opened in 1904. The church has now closed and the building has been converted into the Welldon Community Centre.

The Wealdstone Methodist Church has its origins in a Methodist mission room in Harrow Weald from 1889 to 1935. The congregation used a chapel in Station Road, Wealdstone, from 1892 to 1904, when it was replaced by the present chapel in Locket Road.

The Leysian Mission was founded in 1886 as a large Wesleyan Methodist settlement and mission by past and present scholars of the Leys School, Cambridge. The work started in Whitecross Street, moved to 12 Errol Street in 1890, and then moved in 1904 to the new headquarters building in City Road, Finsbury. This striking building of terracotta bricks and red granite, costing £124,000, was designed by Messrs Bradshaw and Gass. The Queen Victoria Hall seated 2,000 persons and the building itself accommodated 125 rooms and four roof gardens for settlement purposes, with commercial premises at street frontage level.

At the opening of the building by the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1904, Lord Strathcona described the object of the mission as two-fold "to bring religious and ameliorative influences to bear upon the lives of toilers in one of the most crowded districts in London" and "to give to those who have enjoyed the privilege of a public school education the opportunity of coming into direct and sympathetic contact with the social problems that appeal for their solution to the Christian Church and to all good citizens at large".

The Circuit included Haggerston Methodist Mission, Brownlow Street and Shoreditch Methodist Mission, Nichols Square, Hackney Road. The Leysian Mission closed in 1989 and the congregation united with Wesley's Chapel, City Road to form Wesley's Chapel and Leysian Centre.

Ruislip Common Chapel was built in 1854 and taken over for use by a Methodist congregation in 1882. It is now closed.

Hugh Price Hughes a Wesleyan Minister in London founded the West London Mission in 1887 as part of the Forward Movement in Methodism which stressed that faith had to be expressed in social and political as well as personal life. The Inaugural meeting of the then West Central Mission was on 21st October 1887 with the Sermon at St. James' Hall, Piccadilly preached by C.H. Spurgeon. The West London Mission remained at St. James' Hall which was a popular Concert Hall, until 1905 when it was demolished to form the Piccadilly Hotel. The Mission moved to Exeter Hall, another concert hall, in the Strand.

In 1906 the Methodist Conference gave the Mission its own building, the Wesleyan Chapel at Great Queen Street. The building was later condemned by the LCC and the Mission were temporarily housed in the Lyceum Theatre, while on Great Queen Street at the old site a new place of worship, Kingsway Hall, was under construction. Kingsway Hall opened in 1912 and enjoyed nearly 70 years of occupation until it was sold in the eighties after the amalgamation of the Kingsway Circuit and Hinde Street; the Mission returned to the West End to Thayer Street/Hinde Street.

In the early days, much of the day to day work went on in smaller chapels and halls in the middle of slum areas where social needs were great. These buildings such as Craven Hall at Fouberts Place were used for a wide variety of activities not just devotional but social, education and welfare. However, this use of smaller halls was dropped after the First World War in favour of the new Kingsway Hall premises.

Since its beginning the West London Mission has been involved with social work. One of its first services offered was a Crèche. There were also job registries and men's social department catering for the unemployed, dispensaries and free surgeries, a poor man's lawyer service, a Home of Peace for the Dying, a home for homeless girls - The Winchester House, and a clothing store. In the 1920s and 1930s the social work of the West London Mission expanded. They set up hostels for abandoned mothers and for girls in London without jobs and in 1923 a Mission Maternity Hospital was established. The Social work continued and now includes St. Luke's and St. Mary's Hostels for men and women, Emerson Bainbridge House for young offenders and the Katherine Price Hughes house set up in 1937 and which now provides accommodation for men and women on probation and bail.

Another aspect of the work of the Mission was Open Air Ministry. There were open air services on the streets every evening and in Hyde Park on Sundays which included the Mission brass band. One of the most well known open air preachers was the Reverend Lord Donald Soper whose outdoor work began in 1927 at Tower Hill and in 1942 at Speakers' Corner.

The Mission now has its home at 19 Thayer Street.

Holly Park Methodist Church, Crouch Hill, was founded in 1875, although a permament hall was not built until 1882. The Weston Park Mission was begun by the Holly Park Church although it was later taken over by the Middle Lane Church. The Holly Park Methodist Church Hall is now used by the Holly Park Montessori School.

The Home Mission Division of the Methodist Church is based at Central Buildings, Westminster. It is responsible for promotion of the Methodist Mission at 'home', that is in the UK. The Methodist Church in Britain is arranged into over 600 Circuits, which in turn are grouped into 32 Districts covering Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Each District is supervised by a District Synod.

Circuits and missions in the London North East District include: London City Road, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney, Stoke Newington, Finsbury park and Southgate, Tottenham, Enfield, Waltham Abbey and Hertford, [Epping] Forest, Barking and Ilford, West Essex, Bishop's Stortford, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Romford, Grays, Southend-on-sea, Leigh-on-sea, Basildon, Chelmsford, Colchester, Manningtree and Harwich, Clacton-on-Sea.

Circuits and missions in the London North-West District include: Notting Hill, Highgate, Harrow, Finchley and Hendon, Wembley, Harlesden, Barnet, Watford, Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamstead, Saint Albans, Harpenden, Hitchin and Letchworth, Stevenage, Welwyn, Luton, Dunstable, Bedford, Biggleswade, Leighton Buzzard and Stewkley, Milton Keynes, High Wycombe, Amersham, Aylesbury, Thame and Watlington.

Circuits and missions in the London South-West District include: Victoria and Chelsea, Broomwood and Clapham, Battersea, Lambeth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Richmond and Hounslow, Teddington, Ealing and Acton, Southall, Hillingdon, Wimbledon, Tooting, Kingston-upon-Thames, Staines and Feltham, Thames Valley, Sutton, Redhill and East Grinstead, Dorking and Horsham, Mid Sussex, Eastbourne, Brighton and Hove, Worthing, Guildford, Farnham and Alton, Basingstoke, Woking, Aldershot, Farnborough and Camberley, South East Berkshire.

Circuits and missions in the London South-East District include: Brixton, Streatham and Dulwich, Sydenham and Forest Hill, Walworth, Blackheath and Lewisham, Shooters Hill, Plumstead, Bromley, Orpington, Chislehurst, Croydon, Purley, Gravesend and Dartford, Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Hastings, Bexhill and Rye, The Medway Towns, Maidstone, Sittingbourne and Sheerness, Canterbury, Thanet, Dover and Deal, Folkestone and Ashford.

The London Central Mission Circuit of the Methodist Church had its origins in 1886 with the establishment of the London Central Mission at the already well-established Wesleyan Methodist church in St. John's Square, Clerkenwell, which became the principal church of the circuit. Many of the records of the circuit as a whole were lost when the St. John's Square church was destroyed by enemy action in 1941. The circuit was abolished in 1960, when its remaining churches were transferred to the London Mission (North) Circuit and the London Mission (Hackney and Clapton) Circuit.

Wesleyan Methodists built a church at King Street, Camden Town, in 1824. In 1860 the King Street premises were sold to a Primitive Methodist congregation, and a new church was constructed at Camden Street. Following the union of Methodist churches in 1932 the congregations were united. The King Street church was renamed Plender Street Church and became the main church, while the Camden Street church became a mission hall and youth centre and were later demolished.

The Camden Street Wesleyan Methodist Church belonged to the Second London Circuit/Great Queen Street Circuit until around 1866, when it transferred to the Kentish Town Circuit. It then transferred to the London Central Mission Circuit in around 1887.

The King Street, Camden Town Primitive Methodist Church belonged to the Ninth London Circuit until around 1885, when it transferred to the Camden Town Circuit.

After the Methodist Church Union in 1932 both churches joined the Camden Town Circuit, though in practice this small circuit appears to have been administered as part of London Central Mission Circuit and was officially absorbed into the London Central Mission Circuit in 1956.

The Wesleyan Methodist Church, Caledonian Road was built at the corner of Hillmarton Road in 1866. It was a member of the Highbury Circuit until its closure in 1916.

Haggerston Methodist Church was also known as Haggerston Mission Hall. It was established by Wesleyan Methodists at Hilcot Street as part of the Islington circuit. In 1900 it transferred to the Mildmay Park Circuit and then in 1905 to the London Central Mission Circuit. New premises were opened at Haggerston Road in 1932. The Church was transferred to the London Mission (Hackney and Clapton) Circuit in 1960.