In 1819 there were two Methodist meeting houses in Edmonton, (W. Robinson, The History and Antiquities of Edmonton, 1819, p 186). One of these was probably replaced by the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Fore Street, built in 1860. In 1909 the trustees purchased the freehold of the "Manor House", a site adjoining the chapel, for the building of the Edmonton Wesleyan Mission or Central Hall, which was opened in 1911. The old chapel and school were demolished and new Sunday school premises erected on the site in 1929. The Edmonton Methodist Church was part of the Stoke Newington Methodist Circuit until about 1896 when it joined the Tottenham Circuit. In 1941 Edmonton was one of the churches which constituted the Enfield Circuit.
A Primitive Methodist chapel was opened in Welldon Crescent, Greenhill, in 1904. The church has closed and the buildings are now used as a community centre.
Methodists were the largest non-established denomination in the Harrow and Wembley area, with the first of many chapels in this area erected in 1810. Several churches were built in the 1920s including the chapel on Park Lane, Wembley, which was first called the Wesleyan Church. From 20 September 1932 (when the different branches of Methodism united) the name was changed to the Methodist Church. It was closed in 1961.
John and Charles Wesley preached in Hayes church on at least ten occasions between 1748 and 1753. By 1816 the Methodists had erected a chapel in Hayes, but nothing else is known of the Methodist congregation in Hayes until 1906, when the Hayes Tabernacle at Wood End Green was registered by Wesleyan Methodists. Hayes Methodist Church began in Station Road, in 1907. It was registered at that address in 1927. In 1930 the registered name was changed to Queen's Hall Methodist Church, Station Road. In 1973 Queen's Hall closed and work began on a new church, which opened in September 1977, and was renamed Hayes Methodist Church.
Trinity church, Wood Green, had its origins in open-air services which had begun in 1864. In 1869 a site on the north side of Southgate (later Trinity) Road was purchased and a chapel was constructed, dedicated in 1872. The building was designed by the Reverend J. N. Johnson, a steward of the Highbury circuit; it was of greyish brick with stone dressings, in the Early English style. A new school was built to the rear of the chapel in 1880, and in 1900 three halls were opened. In 1903, with nearly 700 worshippers on Sunday morning and 800 in the evening, there was a larger attendance than at any other nonconformist church in Tottenham or Wood Green. The former Baptist chapel of Saint George, Bowes Park (Edmonton), was placed under the care of Trinity church, and was eventually purchased by the Methodists in 1901. Trinity church itself was sold to the Greek Orthodox Church in 1970.
Source: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5.
Acton Green Wesleyan Methodist church originated in meetings held in a house in Antrobus Road. In 1885 a chapel and school were constructed in Steele Road, Acton Green. This church was rebuilt in 1930 on the same site by Smee and Houchin in the style of the Methodist Central Halls at Westminster. The new building had two halls, classrooms, vestry, and others rooms split over two levels.
The College Park Primitive Methodist chapel was built in 1897 at the corner of Harrow Road and Victor Road, College Park. It was closed in 1958.
Earlsmead United Methodist Church and Central Hall, Tottenham had its origins in meetings over a shop in Saint Ann's Road, which led to the building of Earlsmead Bible Christian hall, registered in the High Road in 1886. The hall came to be used by Methodists from the nearby Westerfield Road hall. In 1909 the congregation joined the United Methodist Free Churches and opened a second chapel in the High Road, converting the older chapel into a schoolroom. Earlsmead United Methodist church was recertified as Central Hall in 1935. It had seating for 750 and was closed in 1953.
West Green Road Primitive Methodist church began in a temporary building, registered in 1877 but out of use by 1896. A new chapel of yellow brick was constructed on the south side of West Green Road opposite Belmont Road, in 1888, registered in 1894. The building was sold in 1969 and became the Derby Hall Christian Assembly room in 1972.
Harlesden United Methodist Church was founded in 1869. Since September 1932 it has been called Harlesden Methodist Church. It was damaged by enemy action in 1941, and rebuilt in the 1950s on its present site.
Willesden Green Primitive Methodist chapel was opened in the High Road, Willesden Green by 1897. The church was rebuilt in 1904 but closed in 1963.
The first Methodist Chapel in Harrow was established at London Hill, Roxeth, by 1809. A new chapel in Lower Road was opened in 1855. This building subsequently became the Welsh Church. In 1905 the Methodist congregation moved to larger premises in Bessborough Road, Harrow.
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. A 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.
The Maidstone Street Methodist Church, Haggerston, was first used by Wesleyan Reformers in 1852. In 1896 the congregation moved to the Harbour Light Church on Goldsmith's Row, Haggerston. The Church joined the London Central Mission Circuit in 1940 but was forced to close after sustaining bomb damage in 1944. It reopened in 1946, and transferred to the London Mission (Hackney and Clapton) Circuit in 1960.
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.
Muswell Hill Wesleyan Methodist church occupied a wooden building at the foot of the Avenue, Wood Green, in 1898 and moved to the corner of Colney Hatch Lane and Alexandra Park Road in 1899. The building is of red brick with stone dressings, in a Gothic style, and has a corner turret terminating in an octagonal lantern.
The first small group of Methodists in Southgate joined together for worship at a cottage in Chelmsford Road in 1885. The group soon outgrew their first meeting place and moved in turn to a baker's shop, a marquee, an old corrugated iron building called the Iron Chapel and, in 1891, the Wesleyan Chapel on Chase Side (near present day St Andrew's). By the early 1920s, Southgate was changing from village to suburb with the coming of the Southgate tube station, and plans were made to move the church to a still larger site on Bourne Hill.
October 1929 saw the congregation's first worship service in its new location. Southgate Methodist Church became known locally as The Bourne Methodist Church due to its location and to distinguish it from New Southgate Methodist Church in Barnet. The rapidly expanding Sunday School meant that new rooms were built in 1937. The two-storey building of Martin Luther and St Augustine halls opened in 1956 and has since housed a wide variety of church and community activities.
In the 1990s a major redevelopment scheme modernised the worship facilities and provided greatly improved premises now constantly in use by the church and community for worship, study, relaxation, meetings, and activities. The church is part of the Enfield Circuit.
In 1885 the Wesleyan Methodist Church established its first Mission at Saint George's Church, Cable Street, Shadwell, with the Reverend Peter Thompson as Superintendent. The Church aimed to combat the poverty and squalor of the East End of London with a combination of evangelism and social work. The Mission at Saint George's rapidly expanded and new Missions were opened at Stepney, Mile End, Bethnal Green and Tower Hill. Free meals were handed out during hard winters, medical care was provided and events were organised for children including trips to the sea-side, penny films and Christmas treats. The Mission also campaigned on political issues, particularly for temperance and the closure of Music Halls. Articles on such issues appeared in the monthly magazine of the Mission - the 'East End' and later the 'East End Star'.
Following the foundation of the welfare state after the Second World War the Mission shifted the focus of its social work. Saint George's was converted into a centre for the care of homeless men and the Mission as a whole developed its support for immigrant communities, single parents, the disabled, the unemployed and those in inadequate housing. A care home for the elderly was established in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex and a campsite opened at Lambourne End in the Hainault Forest, Essex. A Social Studies Centre was opened to provide voluntary placements for Sociology students.
The London Methodist Choir was part of the London North East District of the Methodist Church. 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.
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.
The Welsh Methodist Church was situated on Chiltern Street, Marylebone.
Cleveland Hall was situated on Cleveland Street, Marylebone. It was a foundation of the West London Mission and was dedicated to helping young women who were in poverty.
The Seymour Place Methodist Church, Bryanstone Square, Marylebone, was originally part of the Primitive Methodist Connexion and belonged to their London Ninth Circuit. It subsequently joined the Wesleyan Methodist West London Mission, possibly after 1932 when the Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists merged. It is now used as the West London Day Centre for homeless people which is run from the Mission headquarters at Thayer Street.
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. 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.
The London Mission East Circuit is part of the London North East District of the Methodist Church.
The New North Road Chapel was situated in Hoxton, Hackney.
The Shoreditch Methodist Mission was part of the Hoxton Circuit. It later became part of the Leysian Mission Circuit, run from City Road, along with Haggerston Methodist Mission, Brownlow Street and Nichols Square, Hackney Road.
The Bow Circuit was the first Home Mission circuit in Methodism, and the newly formed Metropolitan Wesleyan chapel Building Fund purchased land in Bow Road for future development. Alexander McAulay was appointed superintendent of the newly created Bow Circuit in 1861.
In September 1900 Bow and Poplar Circuits were united to become the Poplar and Bow branch of the London Mission (the successor of the Metropolitan Wesleyan Chapel Building Fund which had helped to establish Bow in 1863).
In 1961 Poplar and Bow Mission was divided into two separate circuits of Poplar and Bow.
The Millwall Wesleyan Methodist Church was built in 1887, while the Alpha Hall was added in 1926. The Church is now a community centre.
Canning Town Primitive Methodist Church, Swanscombe Street, later Mary Street, originated in 1853 when members of the 3rd London circuit started mission meetings. A church was built in Swanscombe Street in 1858 and enlarged in 1861. It was included in the new 8th London circuit (1874) and in 1877 a new church, seating over 1,000, was opened in Mary Street. The importance of open-air work was stressed by the erection of a permanent platform on land adjoining the church and by frequent street processions. Mary Street headed the new Canning Town circuit (1881) and in 1903 had the largest Primitive Methodist congregation in West Ham. It was bombed about 1943 and was later demolished.
From: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 123-141.
Pembroke Road Methodist church was founded in 1904 by the main Muswell Hill Methodist church as a Wesleyan mission hall. In 1922 it moved to the Freehold mission hall in Sydney Road, which was replaced in 1954 by a new church in Pembroke Road. In 1975 a small red-brick church seated 150 and shared a minister with Manor Drive Methodist church.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6: Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey with Highgate (1980), pp. 32-33.
Wandsworth Circuit was created in 1864 out of the old Hammersmith Circuit. It comprised churches in Putney, Wandsworth High Street and Wandsworth Bridge Road. In 1951 it was renamed the Wandsworth and Fulham circuit and was joined by Methodist churches in Munster Park and Fulham. In 1968 a new church was opened in Roehampton. The circuit closed in 1969 and the constituent churches redistributed to the Hammersmith, Richmond and Hounslow, and Broomwood and Clapham circuits
Wandsworth Bridge Road Church, Fulham closed in 1968.
The Hillingdon Methodist Circuit was made up of 9 churches on the western edge of London, north of Heathrow Airport. Since 2006 it has been part of the Harrow and Hillingdon 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Ealing Dean or West Ealing Primitive Methodist church on Uxbridge Road was built in 1900 with seating for 450. The congregation had been housed in a temporary chapel since 1861. The church was closed in 1959, when the congregation moved to the Kingsdown Methodist church. The buildings were sold in 1963.
The area of West Ealing was known as "Ealing Dean" until the late nineteenth century.
Methodists were the largest non-established denomination in the Harrow and Wembley area, with the first of many chapels in this area erected in 1810. The Methodist church on East Lane, North Wembley, was opened in 1938.
Ridgeway Wesleyan Methodist church originated in the late 1880s, when a Wesleyan mission was opened in a temporary hall in Mill Hill. In 1893 a red-brick chapel in the Perpendicular style was built. At first the church was under the control of Hendon Methodist church, but in 1970 it was linked with Goodwyn Avenue Methodist church.
Mattison Road church, later renamed Harringay church, opened in 1891 as an iron tabernacle (a pre-fabricated timber framed structure clad with corrugated iron which could quickly be assembled from a kit to provide a building until a more permanent structure could be constructed). The tabernacle was replaced by a permanent church and halls in 1901. Originally part of the Caledonian Road circuit of the Primitive Methodists, it joined the Finsbury Park circuit after the Methodists' union in 1931. In 1903 membership was so high that Mattison Road was described as the chief Primitive Methodist church in London. The church closed in 1963 and became a Roman Catholic church.
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.
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.
Islington Central Methodist Church was also known as Islington Central Hall. It was built in 1929 to replace Wesleyan Methodist churches at Drayton Park, Highbury and Liverpool Road, Islington. The first minister was the Reverend Donald Soper who was there between 1929 and 1936. Soper cleared the Church of debt, developed children's cinema, organized breakfasts for 500 each Christmas morning, and sponsored concerts and variety evenings. He also founded a centre where unemployed men could barter their skills. The Church left the London Central Mission Circuit in 1938 and in 1941 united with Archway Central Hall to form the London Mission North Circuit. The church was closed in 1953 and the work transferred to the Albany Mission, Hornsey Road, which was itself replaced by Islington Central Methodist Church, Palmers Place in 1963.
King's Cross Central Methodist Mission, Crestfield Street was opened in 1825 on Chesterfield Street by the Wesleyan Methodists as Battle Bridge Church. It was renamed as King's Cross Church in 1836 and was initially part of the Second London Circuit/Great Queen Street Circuit. In 1904 it transferred to the Prince of Wales Road Circuit, then in 1921 to the West London Mission Circuit. In 1937 Chesterfield Street was re-named Crestfield Street. In 1945 the Church transferred to the London Central Mission Circuit, then in 1960 to the London Mission (North) Circuit.