In November 30, 1824, the foundation stone of a new chapel in Middleton-in-Teesdale was laid. By 1872, as well as the chapel, there was a school, caretaker’s house and manse (minister’s house).
In the circuit which also included Lunedale, Forest, Bowlees, Mickleton, Newbiggin and Eggleston, Wesleyan Methodism flourished.
These were places where lead mining families lived and worked. The chapels were important social centres. Wesley’s success was based, at least in part, on going to where the people were, rather than expecting them to travel to church.
Two hundred years on and those once busy mining villages are peaceful, rural areas, with closed chapels converted into homes or holiday accommodation.
A Wesleyan preacher, Charles Pettler, writing in the Christian Messenger said: “The circuit (group of chapels) has had its fluctuations.
There have been seasons of great revival when the spirit of God has swept through the dale, and the hills and the valleys have reverberated with the melody of praise.
There have also been seasons of reaction times of – industrial depression that have led to constant migrations, which have depleted church membership.”
In Barnard Castle, the earliest Methodists met in the Hole-in-the-Wall meeting house from 1750 to 1765.
Broadgates Chapel (now a residential property) which was opened by John Wesley, was the main Wesleyan chapel in the town from 1765 to 1894.
Lifelong Methodist, Harold Beadle, writing in 2004, said: “The earliest record of Methodism in this area is in the year 1747, when one Joseph Cheesebrough (a Barnard Castle native) returned from Leeds where he had come into contact with the early Methodists there, and had been converted.
On his return, he made attempts to spread the salvation he himself had found. His efforts were not without success. Under his influence others were converted and a class was formed which is said to have been led by a woman called Catherine Graves who before this had laboured in Darlington.”
A small group of men and women met each evening in a house in Galgate to read the Bible and works of Methodism founder John Wesley, and to sing hymns and pray.
There was often opposition and interruption at meetings so they were frequently held in secret to avoid disturbances.
“One evening, a man named Thomas Hanby went along with some of his companions to the place where the class met, with the intention of causing a disturbance,” wrote Mr Beadle.
“But he, too, was influenced and asked to be admitted as a member. Thomas Hanby became an itinerant preacher and was President of the Methodist Conference in 1794.”
John Wesley first visited the town in May, 1752.
He recorded the occasion: “Mon 25th – We rode to Durham, and thence, through very rough roads, and rough weather, to Barnard Castle. I was exceeding faint when we came in; however, the time being come I went out into the street and would have preached, but the mob was so loud that it was not possible for many to hear. Nevertheless I spoke on, and those who were near listened with huge attention. To prevent this, some of the rabble fetched the engine, and threw a great deal of water on the congregation; but not a drop fell on me…”
Newbiggin Chapel opened in 1759 when it became the centre of upper Teesdale Methodism.
When it closed in 2018 it was one of the oldest Methodist chapels in continuous use.
John Wesley had visited on several occasions. Before the 299-seat chapel opened, meetings had been held at Beck Head, Ettersgill; Field Head and Low Houses, Newbiggin; Wisehill, Lunedale and in a building near where Middleton House now stands.
These meetings met with tremendous opposition, particularly from the Rector at Middleton, a place not without its own difficult times between 1752 and 1757 when some of the preachers were roughly treated.
The estimated number of members of Methodists in Teesdale in 1759 was 58 and in 1760, the figures were Barnard Castle 60 and Teesdale 57.
The first of Wesley’s visits to upper Teesdale (probably Newbiggin) was in June 1761 after preaching in Weardale in the morning.
He records: “Tues. 9th – At noon I preached in Teesdale. Most of the men are lead miners, who a little while ago were turned out of their work for following ‘this way’. By this means many of them got better work and, some time after, their old master was glad to employ them again.”
- First published in the Bulletin of the North East Methodist History Society Issue 81, 2004.
