PRIMITIVE METHODISM IN THE LEEK MOORLANDS with special reference to the Societies at ELKSTONE, HULME END, REAPSMOOR and WARSLOW W H SIMCOCK JULY 1970 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My principal sources have been the Primitive Methodist Magazines at Hartley Victoria College, Manchester, and the Quarterly Meeting Minute Books of the old Fountain Street Primitive Methodist Circuit, Leek. My grateful thanks are due to the Rev. H.P. Reck, M.A., College Librarian, for access to the magazines, etc., and to the Rev. V.H. Brackenbury, Superintendent Minister of the Leek Methodist Circuit, for permission to use the Minute Books and for putting his vestry at my disposal. My thanks are also due to the City Librarian, Horace Barks Reference Library, Hanley; the Librarian, Leek Public Library; the Staffordshire County Archivist at the William Salt Library, Stafford, and the Archivist of the Methodist Archives and Research Centre at Epworth House, London. I am also grateful to the following for information and for the use of materials: Mrs. H. Bailey, Miss H. Critchlow, Mrs. C. Cundy, Mr. S. Fern, Mr. E. Howson, Mrs. A. Lawrence, Mrs. L. B. Lowe, Mr. H.S. Trafford, F.R.C.S., Mr. H. A. Peacock and Miss S. Wood. Lastly I am indebted to my father for many kinds of help but particularly for drawing upon his memory of those years, about the time of the Centenary of 1907, when Primitive Methodism was still a living force. CONTENTS 1. Hugh Bourne's Separation from the Wesleyans 2. The Origin of Primitive Methodism 3. Wesleyan Methodism in the Moorlands 4. Difference between the Two Connexions 5. Bourne Comes to Ramsor 6. Richard Jukes 7. The Primitive Methodist Class 8. The Origin of the Leek P.M. Circuit 9. Organisational Changes in the Leek Circuit 10. History of Hulme End Chapel 11. Warslow 12. Reapsmoor 13. Elkstone 14. Conclusion W H SIMCOCK JULY 1970 PRIMITIVE METHODISM IN THE MOORLANDS 1. HUGH BOURNE' S SEPARATION FROM THE WESLEYANS I have recently been involved in the sale of a chapel building (at Butterton, near Leek) and with the break-up of the Wetton and Longnor Methodist Circuit, of which Butterton was part. It seemed appropriate therefore that I should write something about the history of Methodism in the Leek Moorlands. Of the many Methodist bodies which have arisen since the late 18th century, only the Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists properly established themselves in the Moorlands. Wesleyan Methodism locally has had its historians - Wardle, Dyson, and others - and its history will be merely outlined in Chapter 5. The history of Primitive Methodism in the area has never been written and it is the aim of this essay to begin to fill that gap. The P. M. Connexion had its origin in the revivalist movement among Wesleyan Methodists in the late 18th century, though the official Wesleyan attitude rejected Bourne's methods. Like the other break-away movements of the period, these "Primitive" Methodists were, as Kendal says, "the survival or revival of methods that characterised Methodism in its primitive period." + Hugh Bourne was born in 1778 and when he was a boy of sixteen his family moved to Bemersley - where may still be seen the buildings which were his P. M. head-quarters and printing works, (the P. M. Magazines referred to in this paper were first printed here) and are now used as cottages. Bourne was converted, chiefly through the reading of Wesley's works, in 1799. While working at Harriseahead (as carpenter and timber-merchant) he converted his first sinners, Daniel Shubotham and Matthias Bayley, two colliers who joined him in preaching, to anyone who would listen, on the pit-banks and in the fields of the Harriseahead district. [photographs] Ford Hays (above), the remote The old P.M. Chapel, Harriseahead, moorland farm, where Bourne still used as a Sunday School, the spent his early years. probable site of Bourne's First Chapel. It was Shubotham who made the oft-quoted remark: "You shall have a meeting on Mow some Sunday and then you'll be satisfied." * He was answering complaints that prayer-meeting were too short, and he was referring to the hill now associated with the birth of Primitive Methodism: Mow Cop, a height on the Staffordshire/ Cheshire border. * Bourne Chap. 11 + Kendal. Chapter 1. 2. Though the Burslem Wesleyan Circuit neither supported nor recognised him, Bourne never had the desire to set up a separate organisation and always joined his converts to other connexions. He built a chapel at his own expense in 1802 and united it to the Burslem Circuit. Bourne learned of the open-air religious meetings, called Camp-meetings, attended by great crowds in America. In cooperation with William Clowes, the other founder of Primitive Methodism, he planned the first Camp Meeting - at Mow Cop - in May, 1807, which went on from 6 a. m. to 8.30 p. m. and was a huge success. As early as 1803 Bourne had held regular meetings at several places within a few miles of Bemersley. Two years later his friendship with William Clowes began. The latter had spent much of his life in riotous living until his conversion at a Wesleyan service in Burslem. Following the huge success of the first camp-meeting, a second was planned by the two men in July, 1807. Travelling preachers in the Burslem and Macclesfield Methodist Circuits disclaimed connection with Bourne and Clowes and indictment was threatened under the Conventicle Act (by this Act an unlicenced preacher risked a £20 fine, and each of his hearers, 5/-). Wesley, at his most typical, is thought of as travelling on horseback to his preaching appointments throughout the country (he is said to have covered a quarter of a million miles) We may visualise Bourne, just as typically, making his way on foot for incredible distances throughout Staffordshire and the surrounding counties, To counter the threat of indictment he walked to Lichfield and back, a distance of 74 miles: He was refused a licence because he had no building to preach in and, having erected a wooden structure, he went to the Court of Quarter Sessions at Stafford and obtained a licence as a Dissenting Minister. Following the second Mow Cop Camp Meeting the Wesleyan Annual Conference, resolving that such meetings were "highly improper and likely to be productive of considerable mischief," * clearly wished to dissociate the Church from what they thought of as a manifestation of the revolutionary character of contemporary working-class political thought. The Wesleyans wanted to be respectable and they feared further secessions like that of the New Connexion in 1797. The New Connexion had broken away because they believed that the Wesleyan Church leadership had become autocratic. They and the "Primitives" wanted laymen to take a greater share in preaching and in running the societies. Throughout the separate life of the P.M. Church the professional minister remained very much the servant of the Quarterly Meeting. In fact a remnant of this attitude is still enshrined in the practice of the Methodist Church: "Ministers --- hold no priesthood differing in kind from that which is common to all the Lord's people."+ (This is still a live issue: in the objections of a large body of Methodists to unity with the Anglican Church.) Hugh Bourne was finally "put out" of Methodist Society on 27th June, 1808, at a Burslem Quarterly Meeting, and the following day his brother James was expelled. Yet there was no thought of a separate denomination for two years (Hugh Bourne said that his "Connexion was begun undesigned of man"); converts made by the Bournes and their company became members of various denominations: Wesleyan, New Connexion, Quaker and Independent (established in 1805.) * Resolution of the Methodist Conference, July 1807, Liverpool. + Spencer, page 4.. 4 THE ORIGINS OF PRIMITIVE METH0DISM Hugh Bourne became a full-time minister and yet carried on his work in carpentry, building and harvesting. He missioned as far away as Warrington and Runcorn. He regularly met the societies he had formed. In 1809 he held camp-meetings at Mow Cop and Biddulph Moor, and at Ramsor, which, as we shall see, became a most important centre for the further spread of his work. (It was for attending the camp meetings at Ramsor that Clowes was put out of Wesleyan Society.) Bourne also became a prolific writer and publisher of tracts and other materials. He paid James Crawfoot a weekly wage from his own pocket to be an evangelist: he showed again that he had no intention of establishing a separate denomination by instructing Crawfoot to make converts and join them to other connexions. The refusal of the Burslem Wesleyan Circuit, however, to accept a Society formed by Bourne at Standley (four miles from Bemersley) was perhaps the first pressure on him to establish a new connexion. By 1810, the Bourneites, as we must still call them, had eleven preachers and eleven preaching-places beside Harriseahead, Standley, Ramsor, Wootton, Tean, Caldon Lowe, Lask Edge, Macclesfield, Warrington, Stockton Heath and Runcorn. The Clowesites had also established regular preaching-places, Clowes having been excluded from the Methodist Society at Tunstall, in June, 1810, for attending Camp Meetings. The Steeleites followed their leader, James Steele, when he was expelled from the Tunstall Society These three groups united to receive a uniform ticket of membership in May, 1811, (Francis Horobin of Ramsor defraying the cost) and henceforth combined all their missionary work. No new name was chosen but the first written plan appeared in 1812. It was a "camp-meeting brotherhood" without a name. The name Primitive Methodist was finally taken at a meeting in February, 1813, on the suggestion of James Crawfoot, whose name may be seen at the head of the list of preachers on the accompanying copy of the first plan. $ Crawfoot had heard Wesley use the term in 1790 in reference to open-air preaching: Wesley had said that primitive (that is, the earliest) Methodist preachers had adopted that type of preaching. Here follows the relevant passage from the 87 year old John Wesley's speech to preachers, delivered at Chester; "Fellow labourers, wherever there is an open door, enter in and preach the Gospel. If it be to two or three under a hedge or a tree, preach the Gospel. Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind. And after you have done this, you will have to say like the servant in the Gospel: `Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room'. Then lifting up his slender hands, while the tears flowed freely down his venerable face, he exclaimed, "And this was the way the primitive Methodists did." * $ Petty, page 52. [page 4 is a copy of a Plan of 1812] 5. 3. WESLEYAN METHODISM IN THE MOORLANDS Wesleyan Methodism was well established by the time Hugh Bourne apparently almost by chance - turned his attention to missionary work in Ramsor, the starting place for all Primitive Methodist work in the area. Wesleyan preachers were in Longnor (one of the ten societies later to form the Wetton and Longnor Circuit) before Hugh Bourne's birth, and it had a chapel as early as 1780. The Macclesfield Circuit was responsible for the Leek Moorlands area at first. In Leek, opposition in the middle of the 18th century was so powerful "that it seemed doubtful whether Methodism would ever establish itself there". $ But Macclesfield preachers were persuaded to continue in spite of angry Leek mobs. Burslem Circuit was formed in 1783 + and took over responsibility for societies in the Leek Moorlands, two of which, Longnor (42 members) and Flash (60), were, at that date, stronger than the Society in the town. Leek was made a separate circuit in 1793 and consisted of the following Societies (membership shown in parenthesis): Leek (57) Flash (93) Steel House ( 8) Holinaclough ( 8) Sytch (12) Sterndale ( 6) Longnor (32) Wetton (11) Biggin (17) Brown Hill (42) The Societies at Longnor, Holinsclough, Wetton and Brown Hill (i.e. Warslow) were themselves to be the nucleus of the Wetton and Longnor Circuit formed in 1870 and disbanded in 1969; this was the Circuit to which the remnants of Moorland Primitive Methodism were joined in 1932. Longnor (1780) was the first place in the Circuit to have a chapel. Preaching had begun there in 1769 and John Wesley visited in 1772. Flash Methodists built in the following year. Leek's first chapel was erected in 1785. In most moorland villages, societies were strong and in some, chapels already existed (or were shortly to be built) before the Primitives began their work. The extent of Wesleyan Methodist influence is illustrated in a framed plan hanging in the Mount vestry. The Plan is for the period May 6th to October 28th, 1832, and lists the following places: Mount Pleasant Chapel Brunswick Chapel Hazzleborough Newstone Flash Wetton Alstonefield Heathy-Lee Rewlatch Hartington Holinsclough Longnor Waterfall Chapel Roachgrange Little Brownhill New-House Caulton Ipstones and Whiston Upper-Hulme Gradbatch Dunbridge Oldfield Kingsley Onecote and Butterton Lo. Ladderedge and Cheddleton Gratton and Ladderedge Gratton and Endon Bankhouse Rushton Bradnop Hulme End * Petty, page 165 $ Wardle, page 3 + Wardle and Dyson are the Authorities for the dates of foundation quoted in this chapter.. 6 The Primitives worked therefore against a background of well-established Wesleyen Chapels. The two Connexions preachod identical doctrines. Indeed, in the P.M. Connexional Deed. Poll enrolled in Chancery, there appeared this reference to the doctrines of John Wesley: "The doctrines believed and taught by the Primitive Methodist connexion were and are that system of religious doctrines which was laid down and established by John Wesley." * 4. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO CONNEXIONS It is tempting, when considering the differences between the two Connexions, to see something symbolic in the styles of architecture each adopted. Wesleyan buildings in the 19th century were always the more ornate, as suiting the respectable, quiet church which had become acceptable to society at large; Primitive Methodists built the cheapest possible church, as befitted a camp-meeting society to which the building was of little importance. The architecture of Leek's ex-Wesleyan Chapels may be contrasted with that of the Primitive Methodists' simple functional buildings at Bradnop, Ramsor, Reapsmoor, Hulme End and Warslow (all pictured in these pages). [photographs] Mount Pleasant Methodist Church Brunswick Methodist Church in (with the greatest seating Market Street, facing the Town capacity of any building in Leek) Hall (original bulding dated at Clerk Bank, boasts a classical 1820), adopted the fashionable portico of plain Doric columns, neo-Gothic style when it was the central pairs in couples. rebuilt in 1856. The oldest part of the building dates from 1811. * Quoted by Petty, page 566-7 Photographs of the rudimentary pulpit at Ramsor and the unadorned interior at Warslow (and the plan of Warslow Chapel) may also be compared with a photograph of the Mount interior taken from the rear of the gallery The pulpit in Ransor Chapel (right). Ransor was built about the year 1820, rebuilt in 1897, and closed in 1969. [this page also included the Ramsor Plan, 1821-22] 8 [plan of Warslow PM Chapel] As the years went by, the differences between the two widened, but, in fact, P.M. organisation followed closely that of the Wesleyans: Classes were formed which met for prayer and the sharing of religious experience, and. one or two or more classes formed a society; "travelling preachers" were paid ministers, and "local preachers" were unpaid, yet travelled great distances on foot; preaching-plans, love-feasts, the appointment of society stewards and class leaders were the same in both connexions; the main innovation of the "Primitives" was the camp-meeting. In theology too they were the same: in both churches there was a great emphasis on scriptural knowledge; the scriptures were revered as holy and final. In fact, throughout the one hundred and twenty-one years of their separation, there was never much difference between the P.M. and Wesleyan Churches as regards organisation and theology. The new denomination had, however, a distinctive character of its own, a character which still shows itself in the older generation of ex-Primitive Methodists who were against the union of the separated bodies in 1932. It was in the expression of theology that the Primitive Methodists differed. They were like the early Christians or very early Wesleyans in their dread and hatred of sin; release from sin was a shattering and emotional conversion. Primitive Methodism seemed to answer the need of hard-working Staffordshire working-men. It was essentially a village and working-class movement; the members were poor but self-denying and freely gave to further the movement. These characteristics persisted as the movement spread in the succeeding decades. 9 As a sample of early Primitive Methodist prayer, take this extract, quoted by Farndale in The Secret of Mow Cop: * "It is the business and duty of every member in every station to have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, without respect of persons, putting away all bigotry and narrow-mindedness, not lightly esteeming others on account of difference in opinion, for it is certain that opinion is not religion, not even right opinion. --- Therefore walk in wisdom toward them that are without and honour all men, highly esteeming pious people of all denominations, and endeavour to make this society a blessing to all people." 5. BOURNE COMES TO RAMSOR Hugh Bourne in his history describes the expansion of the work in the Ramsor district and how the establishment of powerful societies there, at Froghall, Alton and Rocester, prompted the first issue of P.M. tickets. The passage he chose for them is found in the 28th chapter of Acts: "But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against." $ Anyone wishing to visit Ramsor will have difficulty in finding it, and, when he has found it, will discover merely an insignificant hamlet. Yet this was the place Hugh Bourne knew well and from which he spread his faith throughout the Moorlands and into Derbyshire. Ramsor still has a chapel, built in 1897, which replaced the original building and faces the original site. An old plan, framed and hanging there, dated 1821-2, is headed "Ramsor Branch of Tunstall Circuit" and on it are detailed, not only places in the immediate vicinity, but also Warslow and Hulme End, which are discussed in Chapters 9 and 10, and other societies in the northern part of Leek Moorlands. Here, in the left-hand column, is a complete list of places on the plan. The right-hand column shows the regular programme for week-day meetings. 1821 and 1822 SUNDAY PLAN WEEK DAY Wooton 2 Ramsor 6 Ramsor M N. Houses 10 W.Houses 2 Wooton T .Alton 6 Ipstones W C.Common 2 Mobally 6 Froghall Th Riddens 2 Rocester 6 N.Houses F G.Gate 2 Th.W.Head 6 W.Houses S Ford. 10 Onecote 2 Froghall 10 Foxt 1 Ipstones 3 Alton Li Leek 2 Th.W.Head T C.Head 10 Fleet Green 2 Rocester W H. End 10 Warslow 2 Tiddens Th Mill Dale 2 Alstonefield 6 Stanton F Biggin 2 L. Tean 4 U. Tean 6 Longnor 3 Onecote M Fleet Green T Warslow W Alstonefield Th Biggin M Mixon Mine T Mill Dale W Mooridge Th * Farndale, page 45 $ ibid., page 42 10. Later societies were successfully established and chapels built at some of these places, but at this time they were cottage meetings, and at some of the places the cause failed. Ramsor gave its name to a separate circuit in 1822 and it nurtured the Leek cause and made a separate circuit there in 1838, and it provided the men who regularly visited the places listed above. In recent years Ramsor has become a very small society of the Dove Valley Circuit (principal church, Uttoxeter). In September 1969 it was closed and the building is now (June 1970) advertised for sale. Although Leek was missioned from Ramsor Hugh Bourne had done some ground work in the town long before this as shown by the following Meeting House Registrations: * 126 A house at GENFORD LEEK, registered for Protestant Dissenters by Hugh Bourne and James Bourne, occupiers (sic), on 7 Jan 1806. Witnesses James Bourne, Hugh Bourne, William Handley, John Turner, James Dennisson 590 A house at DUNWOOD, parish of Leek, registered by Hugh Bourne of Bemersley, minister 5 June 1817. Occupied by Joseph Armett. [photographs] Ramsor. The original site of The Printing Works at the first P.M. Chapel to be Bemersley, now Cottages, built by the Connexion apart where James Bourne produced from those in the Harriseahead tracts, hymn-books and the area. It was rebuilt in 1897. early Primitive Methodist Magazines. It was at humble places like Ramsor and Wooton then that the Primitive Methodist Connexion first took root and from which it began to spread so extensively that by the beginning of this century it had nearly 5,000 chapels and preaching-places. The following is taken from the Primitive Methodist Magazine of 1856. It is an article showing how Bourne began his distant religious excursions, and what happened on Saturday, May 7th, 1808. % "By a peculiar opening of Divine Providence, H. Bourne was called to visit Ramsor, a village in Staffordshire, for the first time; he preached in the evening, and again on the Sunday following. Several villages were pointed out to him, at which there were no means of grace. He fixed upon one of them, namely Wooton-under- Weaver, and appointed a meeting to be held there on the Sunday but one after. * S.H.C. % Mag. 1836. 11. Ramsor is about 17 miles from Bemersley, and Wooton is near two miles further. On his way to Ransor and Wooton Saturday, May 21st, 1808, he came to the conclusion of a thing long bothering him - to give up business (timber-merchant) and take up extensive religious excursions. The meetings were the beginning of a great spread of the gospel." Bourne had visited the area before 1808 however. Two Meeting House Registrations were made by him at Kingsley and the earlier of them must have been Bourne's first registration after the memorable Mow Cop Meeting of 1807. 160 A house in KINGSLEY, registered for Protestant Dissenters by * Hugh Bourne on 4 July 1807. Witnessed by Hugh Bourne, James Bourne, John Sargent and William Moseley, the occupier. 400 A house at Lees, KINGSLEY, registered for Protestant Dissenters by Hugh Bourne, 7 June 1813. Thomas Cooper, a local preacher, made the return for the P.M. chapel which was built at Kingsley in 1834. Sittings were provided for 140 people, and on the day of the census three services were held, attended by the following numbers of people: 50, 40 and 105. A neighbouring village, Ipstones, was early on worked by both Primitives and Wesleyans end the census returns for these societies reads as follows:- EXTRACTS FROM THE 1851 RELIGIOUS CENSUS + CHURCH SITTINGS ATTENDANCE 30 MAR AVERAGE Free Others Morn. Aft. Eve. ATTENDANCE Ipstones Wesleyan 78 48 30 31 45 37 1838 Scholars 30 Ipstones P.M. 60 70 66 95 90 90 1826 Scholars 66 When Ramsor commenced as a separate circuit the first two preachers stationed there were S. West and W. Sleath but they had the help of visiting preachers, and something of the flavour of such an early evangelist's work in the district may be savoured from the brief entries in Samuel Heath's Journal "30th Jan - Aistonefield. Feb 2nd - Alstonefield and Mill Dale. Many have been convinced of their lost state. Feb 3rd Oncote and the Lord was there. Feb 5th - Preached at the Water Houses - there was a shaking amongst the dry bones. Feb 7th - Swinsco and had. a good time - two souls ptofessed to find the Lord. Sun, Feb 9th Riddens and Rocester and had great liberty. Feb 11th Wooton. Feb 12th Ramsor -the Lord owned the Word. Feb 13th Foxt. Feb 16th Wooton and Ramsor - one cried out for mercy and did not get liberty. Feb 21st Then I was reading my bible at Ipstones I had a divine impression to go to the Water Houses. Had class there, two found the Lord. Swinscoe and the power of God came down like a mighty rushing wind. Stanton. Wed 26th Biggen - It was a glorious time. Thur 27th Aistonefield - ten were crying for mercy, and six professed to find the Lord. Fri 28th Froghall. This has been a blessed week. Sun, Mar 2nd Threap Wood Head. Night at Great Gate Mon 3rd Alton, prayed with a woman there - God set her soul at liberty. At night spoke at Riddens. Mar 7th Great Gate. Sun Mar 9th Cheadle Common - afterwards Teen. Mar 10th Stanton. Mar 11th Wooton - the scene resembled that in Ezra iii, 11-13. Wed Mar 12th Ramsor - great hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Mar 13th Foxt. Mar 14th Ipstone. Sun 16th Administered sacrament at Ipstones" * SHC + Census $ Mag 1823 12 There speaks the authentic voice of a ranter, a term first given to the ` Primitives at Belper, in the early years of Primitive Methodism. He travelled for six weeks in very difficult country, in the middle of winter, probably on foot; he doubtless lived on casual gifts of food and depended for accommodation upon the generosity of his converts. Incidentally when he writes about "Water Houses" he adds the following topographical footnote: "Here a large brook, after turning several mills, sinks entirely into the ground among the limestone; and after running about three miles underground again makes its appearance." Hugh Bourne had established meeting houses several years before at two of the places mentioned. + 419 A house at ALSTONFIELD, registered for Protestant Dissenters by Hugh Bourne of Bemersley, Minister, on 18 Oct 1813. 511 The preaching room, ONECOTE, parish of LEEK, registered by Hugh Bourne of Bemersley, minister, on 7 Dec 1815. Said to be in the occupation of James Allen. A chapel was built at Onecote in 1822, but not by the Primitives, according to Mr. S. Fern, a local preacher for 50 years in the Cheadle Circuit. Mr. Fern says that the person who built the chapel at his own expense, offered it both to the Wesleyans end to the Primitives on the condition that no collections were to be taken at the chapel. The Primitives accepted this condition and it became their chapel. The Religious Census records that the place had sittings for 110 with an average morning Sunday School of 30 scholars and an average Sunday evening congregation of 80. The respective figures for 30th March, 1851 were 18 and 54. Mr. John Pearson, "Manager" of the Chapel adds the following note to his return: "General congregation and Sunday scholars below average owing to boisterous state of weather on that day." $ The new Ramsor Circuit continued its expansion and three new chapels were opened in 1835-6. Hugh Bourne's brother, James, preached at the opening of Swinscoe Chapel on Sunday, August 23rd 1835. Primitive Methodist chapels often opened in debt but that at Swinscoe was reported as "in good circumstances, collections and subscriptions amounting to £40." [photographs] Swinscoe Chapel, opened Aug 1835 and still used, showing a modern addition to the original building - one of the first in the old Ramsor Circuit. Norton P.M. Chapel, re-built 1857, now a Library Centre. Speaking of the Camp Meeting held there in 1807, one historian describes Norton as "Hugh Bourne 's Rubicon." = * Petty page 61-. + S.H.C... $ Mag. 1836. = Farndale, page 34 [photograph] Mill Dale P.M. Chapel, built 1835, still in use and now in the Ashbourne Methodist Circuit was an early Society in the Ramsor Circuit. Mill Dale chapel opened in the following January "in the Leek Branch of the Rameor Circuit;" There was "scarcely any debt." In April, 1836, a new chapel was opened at Waterhouses. A report from the Circuit in the P.M. Magazine in 1838 states: "We have made Leek into a separate circuit; and we have built a new chapel at Ellaston, and have rebuilt and enlarged Ipstones Chapel." According to Dyson, Wesleyan Methodism also came to Leek and the Moorlands from the same direction. He describes (p.9) how Thomas Hanby in 1754 approached Leek via Wootton and Bottom-house, 6. RICHARD JUKES Even without Leek, Ramsor Circuit continued to grow and showed an increase of 50 members in 1839; it also helped to consolidate the cause in Leek that year by holding what was aptly called a "Protracted Meeting" - from Sunday, March 24th, 1839, to Monday, April 1st, 1839. Before the Primitive Methodiats built a place in Leek, however, a chapel was erected, part of the Ramsor Circuit, in Hulme End. Cottage Meetings in every village and hamlet in the area preceded this first building. The first such regular meeting-place in the neighbourhood of Warslow, with which we are chiefly concerned, was registered with the Bishop as follows:- * Mag. 1838, + Mag. 1839. 34. "444 A house in WARSLOW, parish of Alstonefield, registered for Protestant dissenters by Hugh Bourne of Bemersley, Minister, on 10th June, 1814 --- house is said to be occupied by George Sutton." A later entry notes the similar registration of a house occupied by William Berrisford. Warslow therefore had a meeting-place only three years after the first P.M. chapel was registered in Tunstall. (the "Mother Church"). The opening of Hulme End Chapel was reported to the Primitive Methodist Magazine by the then Travelling Preacher (i.e. the Superintendent Minister) of the Ramsor Circuit, R. Jukes. Three sermons were preached on the opening day, Sunday, November 16th, 1834. "In the morning by R. Jukes, in the afternoon by Mr. James Bourne from Bemersley, and in the evening by Miss E. Allen from the Macolesfield Circuit." R. Jukes adds that "Mr. Charles Mitchell and Mr. T. Mellor have laboured much and subscribed liberally towards this building." Later quotations will illustrate the great work and influence of this chapel at Hulme End but its founders would have been daunted had they realised that the cause was to die in two generations. At its opening, one of the founders of Primitive Methodism, Mr. James Bourne, conducted one of the services. One of the other opening preachers was Miss Allen, and we are reminded that the Primitives, greatly daring, were the first to employ women, both as Lay Preachers and Travelling Preachers. Richard Jukes, the third opening preacher, is worthy of a special note because he was the most celebrated. and influential of the Travelling Preachers who came to the district. He was born in 1804. in Shropshire end became the most prolific of the few hymn writers Primitive Methodism produced. He has been called. "The poet of the million" and "Bard of the Poor" and yet only one of his hundreds of hymns appears in the current Methodist hymn book: My heart is fixed Eternal God Fixed on Thee (MHB 403) The Rev. Arthur Wilkes, in a little sketch about the hymn-writers of the Camp Meeting Movement, speaks of the power and influence of Jukes' hymns: "Multitudes were swept into the Redeemer's Kingdom,..Rev. Richard Jukes, one or the most devoted and original of the early Primitive Methodist Ministers...It would be nothing less than astonishing to recount his achievements in a very wide circuit (Ramsor) in the years from 1834 to 1839," $ The greatest local contribution to Primitive Methodism however was in the person of A.S. Peake (1865-1929), the most outstanding scholar of the connexion. He was born at Leek and his family was associated with the Primitives from the early days when Hugh Bourne first visited the town. Peake was a tutor to potential ministers at Hartley College, Manchester, for thirty-seven years and achieved an enormous output of writing. He contributed to the Primitive Methodist Leader for over twenty years. 7. THE PRIMITIVE METHODIST CLASS The first P.M. class tickets were suggested and financed by a Ramsor man in 1811. At the conference only eighteen years later a membership of 33,730 was reported, and over 400 chapels had been built, This progress was made from sball local beginnings: Cottage-meetings of small "Classes" of people. Hugh Bourne was a strict disciplinarian and much of the constitution and government of the denomination were laid down by him. Local organisation was on the following lines: Members were formed into classes for weekly * S.H.C. * Mag, 1834. $ Wilkes, page 91, 15 Photograph of Hulme End P.M. Chapel, built 1834, now a corn store, situated near the old station yard of the now defunct Manifold Light Railway and detail of its entrance. The entrance is the only decorated part of the building. This doorway is in every respect - plinths, pilasters, arch with keystone having Tudor Rose design - identical with the entrance to Warslow's chapel. It is possible that the same mason was concerned, as Warslow's chapel was built onLy 14 years after Hulme End's. _________________ devotions and. discussion and each class had a leader who instructed members (and reproved them if necessary) and kept a class book in which the names of the class were enrolled. The members received. a ticket of membership, renewed quarterly. The leaders of the various classes, when a society had more than one, met, with the minister or travelling preacher, in "Leaders' Meetings." Conference laid down that "No person must remain a member of the connexion if he attends vain and worldly amusements, wastes his time at public houses, buys unaccustomed goods, is dishonest in his dealings, or is guity of any other acts of immorality." 16. A circuit was formed of a number of societies, who shared the services of the same preachers. The quarterly Meeting of the Circuit, composed of leaders, stewards and preachers, transacted the business of the societies in the circuit. This organisation at local level is unchanged in Methodism to this day. The training and discipline of the "Class" was of paramount importance in the early days of the movement. At the local District meeting held in Tunstall in 1865, this statement on Class meetings was made:- "At the class meetings, the anxious inquirer after salvation had * found peace, the erring had been corrected, the formalist had been aroused and led to the enjoyment of the power of religion, the weak had been strengthened, the sorrowful had been made glad, the tempted had been delivered, the ignorant had been instructed, and the strong had been abundantly edified)' A favourite theme of the early Primitive Methodists was lecturing people about wasting their time on public amusement. Illustrations of this are to be plentifully found in the minutes of the Leek Fountain Street Circuit's Quarterly Meetings. It is to these minutes that reference has been made for much of our information about the Moorland societies at Warslow, Hulme End, Reapsmoor, Elkstones, Mixon and at neighbouring places which will be referred to later in more detail. (Incidentally Warslow's chapel is the only one of those just mentioned still in use, and Ramsor Chapel, from which they were all originally missioned, has also recently been closed.) Here are a few random quotations which illustrate class discipline. All quotations from Q.M. Meetings will retain the original spelling. August 1858 That Joseph Ball be seen by his leader about drinking + and scittle bowling. 5th Sept 1864 That Brother H. Lamb be suspended from preaching in $ any of our places of worship, he haveing been found guilty of attending vain and worldly amusement. Dec 1864 That Wm. Cantril be expelled from Society for attending $ vain and idle places of amusement. June 1869 That we disapprove of Freind Needham playing at $ domnineos and we hope that he will not do it anymore. Sept 1869 That this meeting strongly disapproves of $ J. Hammeraley's spending time at a public-house and advices him to lay aside that which exposes him to such dangers. We hope that for the sake of his own soul and the credit of God's cause, that he will henceforth abstain from the very appearance of evil. As we see, even lay preachers were likely to "backslide" (many were former drunken reprobates; even one of the founders) and there was provision for reporting the number of "backsliders" as well as the number of new members on forms returned each quarter. Sept 1865 That Bro. Kirkby's name come off plan he having fallen. $ Dec 5th 1856 That Stephen Bloor and his wife be dismembered (sic!) + for non-attendance of Class. Dec 8th 1856 That Daniel Horobin be suspended from preaching + and fromnembership for one quarter for insubordination. March 9th 1857 That Daniel Horobin suspension ends and he have + liberty to join the friends at Hulme End providing he will give a pledge for peace. May 7th 1857 That Daniel Horobin be informed that if he wishes + to join the Society at Hulme End he must sign the pledge in the presence of Bro. Porter. (Travelling Preacher at the time). * Mag. 1865 + F.S.1 $ F.S.2 17. May 1862 That J. Potts be suspended 3 months and that he be $ (warned?) that if he repeat the Crime he be put out the Society. That Henry Beard be put out of Book. June 1862 That Hannah Ratcliffe and Mary Ridgway be put out $ for none attendance. That Win. Johnson be suspended 3 months for drinking. $ August 1862 That Bro. Simpson having confest to having done $ wrong in giving up his Plan, we forgive him this time. 8. ORIGIN OF THE LEEK P.M. CIRCUIT The early missioning was done in every village and hamlet of the Leek Moorlands from Ramsor, and the latter continued for a time to be the centre for the work south of the Leek-Ashbourne Road. But the difficult work of Primitive Methodism in the hills was to be centred on Leek (Fountain St. the principal Church) from shortly after 1838 until Union in 1952. It was a century of contrasts. The work, always difficult, was crowned with amazing success at first, and continued to spread up to the end of the 19th century; then came a gradual decline until, by the time of Union with the Wesleyan and other Methodist bodies, although a strong church in the country as a whole, Primitive Methodism in our area had very seriously declined in membership and influence. [photographs] Two views of Fountain Street P.M. Chapel, built 1884, now a Youth Centre, the principal society in the old Moorlands P.M. Circuit. The original Chapel was erected 1836, with 310 sittings only. $ F.S.2 18. The unique Religious Census of 1851 gives the number of sittings provided by each place of every religious denomination in England and Wales. The attendances on 30th March of that year and the average attendances during the previous twelve months are also recorded. Leek Fountain Street's figures are given below, together with those of other places of worship in the town: EXTRACTS FROM THE 1851 RELIGIOUS CENSUS SITTINGS ATTENDANCE 30 MAR AVERAGE ATTENDANCE CHURCH free Others Morn. Aft. Eve. Morn. Aft. Eve. St. Luke's C.E. 650 - 83 10 - consecrated 1845 Scholars 56 Rev. B.J. Pidcock Total 139 Mount Pleasant 250 666 294. 161 517 295 100 530 Wesleyan 213 212 Erected 1811 507 507 Rev. T. Hickson Parish Church 300 1000 350 200 550 450 250 700 consecrated before 280 220 Reformation 630 420 Curate J. Barnes Brunswick Wesleyan 240 188 124 - 296 130 300 1820 310 329 310 329 J. Wardle Chapel Steward 434 440 St. Mary's R.C. 36 145 167 - 115 150 - 140 Fountain Street 1829 49 49 60 60 M.A. Power, Priest 216 174 210 200 Union Street Chapel 120 280 120 - 168 Independent or Congregational 1835 210 R. Goodward, minister Fountain Street Primitive Methodist 94 216 59 - 217 60 250 1836 51 50 ss6o I.E. Saunders, Super. 110 110 Derby Street Chapel 140 used at present for a week evening service - before 1800 average attendance about 50 Independent or Cong. R. Goshawk, minister Ball Haye Green 200 - 60 58 Wesleyan 1846 - 75 44 J. Johnson, Chapel 135 102 Steward -------------------------------------------------------------- The immediate aim of the early missionaries was to establish "classes" of eight or a dozen members who met for study under a leader. They paid class money off 1d. per week and received a ticket of membership. The ticket and the class money survive to this day in the Methodist Church. In the early days it was not sufficient to attend meetings and pay class money; a member had to regulate the whole of his life and a new member was placed on trial for a period. The aim of a class, or maybe two classes, was next to establish a society and build a chapel. The Primitive Methodists often built a chapel without sufficient money; the Minutes of the old Leek Circuit, centred in Fountain Street, showed that, most, if not all, the village chapels were in debt on completion. Very often a preaching mission was set up in a village and thrived for a while, but no permanent society resulted, perhaps because the Wesleyans were already strong in that place. 19, 9 ORGANISATIONAL CHANGES IN LEEK MOORLANDS METHODISM Before tracing the history of two Moorland Primitive Methodist Chapels (Hulme End and Warslow) and of another two in less detail (Elkstone and Reapsmoor) it is important to note changes in organisation. The accompanying map shows the places in the North West of the County which were important in Hugh Bourne's early activities; it shows Ramsor and a few of the very many societies formed from that centre; it also shows in a cluster to the North East, the four places named above. Hulme End and Mill Dale were the only two chapels built by the Ramsor Circuit in the N.E. They became part of the Leek P.M. Circuit when it branched off from the Ramsor Circuit. In its turn the Leek P.M. Circuit built, among others, the Chapels at Warslow, Elkstone, Reapsmoor and Mixon. Of the six, only Warslow, Elkstone and Reapsmoor, survived until the Union of the Methodist Churches in 1932 when they became part of the Wetton and Longnor Methodist Circuit. MAP 20. The Wetton and Longnor Circuit comprised Moorland Wesleyan Chapels and had been founded in 1870 from societies formerly in the Leek Wesleyan Circuit, the largest society being at Longnor. The "census" figures for Langnor were: Sittings Free 100; Other, 60 Attendance : Afternoon 30 + 18 scholars; Evening 70 A&erage Attendance Afternoon 30 + 18 scholars; Evening 130 A complete list of the societies in this circuit can be seen in the accompanying plan. The Circuit was broken up and divided between three neighbouring circuits in 1969 and the only ex-P,M. building still in use, Warslow, has become part of the Leek Circuit. 10. HISTORY OF HULME END CHAPEL Hulme End was the first place in the area to have a Primitive Methodist Chapel (1855). The Chapel was prominently placed on a busy road and its local influence was very powerful. One is therefore tempted to think that because Primitive Methodism was not socially acceptable, mention of it was deliberately omitted from editions of Kelly's Directories before 1884, although the two Wesleyan Chapels in the parish are noticed in the earlier editions. The official history of the Connexion in its edition of 1880, looks forward to an increasing acceptance by and influence on society: "the more favourable light in which the denomination is regarded * by the public in general, and the declining opposition to our peculiar mode of operations afford facilities and a power of doing good superior to those enjoyed in any former period of our history." A report by Joseph Hutchings to the Methodist Magazine shows that the Society was healthy in 1853: "The anniversary services of the Hulme End Chapel were preached + November 20th, 1855, by the writer in the morning, and by Miss Buck of Leicester in the afternoon and evening. The congregations were good and in the evening the chapel was so crowded that many could not gain admittance. The Lord was powerfully present...." One of the earliest entries in the first Minute Book now available of the Leek P.M. Circuit shows a circuit membership of 205. The Circuit had only been in existence, begun from Ramsor, for sixteen years, and its number of Chapels had increased in that time from three (Leek, Hulme End and Mill Dale) to seven. After another sixteen years, (1870) membership had increased to 250, two more chapels had been built, and the Sabbath schools of the Circuit catered for some 350 children. New preachers were constantly being made and the actual membership shown above was very tiny compared with the numbers of non-members who were drawn to Protracted (Revival) Meetings and Camp Meetings: March 10th,. 1854. That the examination of C. Mellor and J. Harrison Hulme End be received and they go on trial. $ That there be Protracted Meetings at Leek and Hulme End. That Hulme End Camp Meeting be held in the first Sunday in August. The terms "on trial" and "note" and "exhorter" (in the following extracts), as stages in the making of a lay preacher, need explanation: * Petty p. 581 + Mag. 1853 $ F.S.1 21. [a Circuit Plan, 1885, for the Wetton and Longnor Ciruit} June, 1857 That if there is any member at Hulme End suitable for the plan Bro. Porter (the Travelling Preacher) have liberty to give him a note. Dec 7th, 1857 That W. Barker, W. Clowes, T. Bowden, S. Lownds of Hulme End come on plan as exhorters providing that examination at Hulme End be satisfactory. A prospective local preacher first accompanied and assisted an already accredited preacher on his appointments; he was then "on note". His next stage was to be an "exhorter" and following that, he did a probationary period "on trial." Only then, after further study, examinations, a trial sermon, did he go onto "Full plan." Wesleyan Methodists worked in Hulme End long before the arrival of the Primitives. Hulme End, now a quiet hamlet, was in earlier centuries a busy, populous place, chiefly because of lead and copper mining in the Manifold Valley. The Wesleyans had a large class there in 1787 (and Hulme End appears as one of 32 preaching places on a Wesleyan plan as late as 1832) but for some reason the main body, 42 members, removed to Great Brown Hill, site of the present Warslow Hall, in 1790. The chapel in the middle of Hulme End was for the next fourteen years the only permanent building the Primitive Methodists had in the hills and the Travelling Preachers from Leek looked after it and nurtured local preachers from among its members. The following extract from a Methodist Magazine in 1856 illustrates the influence of this little place on the local people at the height of its power, and it shows that the atmosphere of prayer meetings a century ago was akin to that in the Upper Room on the First Whit Sunday: HULME END - LEEK CIRCUIT * Notwithstanding the almost insurmountable difficulties we have had to contend with in this circuit for the last two years, we are happy to state that some places are now in a very prosperous state. The Lord has graciously favoured us with an extraordinary outpour- ing of His blessed Spirit at Hulme End, a small village. The work has been steadily progressing for some time, and occasionally souls had been added to the church which gradually prepared the members for mightier work. On the 50th March, Brother T. Harrison, one of our Local Preachers, preached there and the word was with power; sinners cried for mercy; six came to the penitent form in deep distress, and most of them found the Redeemer. On the following Tuesday night Bro. Harrison spoke again, when four were in distress, and several rejoicod in the Lord. On Thursday night there was preaching again, and the Lord owned His truth, and one person professed to find the Lord. On the Sunday night following, Bro. Harrison preached again, and the scene that followed was beyond what most of us have witnessed in small chapels in country places. A general trembling seized the guilty, and anxiety sat on every countenance. When the prayer meeting commenced, sinners rushed to the penitent form; one form was immediately filled, and another was placed and soon occupied. Cries for mercy were heard in different parts of the chapel; but the powers of darkness prevailed for a time. The praying host, however, stood firm, rose mightily in faith, and took hold of God. The enemy was conquered, and floods of glory burst upon the people, so that praise proceeded from almost every tongue. Mourners quickly found liberty and rejoiced in the sin-pardoning God. The victories of the Cross were numerous; the effects of a present, free, and full salvation were glorious. The meetings still continue extraordinary, and sinners are being brought to the Lord. We sincerely hope that this blessed work will spread through the circuit. May 1st, 1856. JAMES NEEDHAM Chairman JOHN SMITH Secretary * Mag 1856 22. Further evidence of the good work at the Hulme End Chapel during its short life may be seen in the strength of the Sunday School which had at this time according to Circuit records five teachers and fifty children (nowadays the district has less than a dozen children altogether) and in frequent references in the Leek Circuit minutes to Camp Meetings, held regularly at Hulme End and neighbouring places. In the 1850s and 1860s the minutes illustrate the great missioning work done by Hulme End preachers, with assistance from the Leek and Warslow people. They regularly met with small societies at Biggin, Hartington, Wetton, Alstonefield and Butterton, but these never became strong enough to build chapels. No mention of the substantial Sunday-school at Hulme End is made in the Religious Census. The Chapel was reported to have 90 sittings and an average evening attendance of 50-60. Attendance on the day of the census was 37. By 1863 the Leek Circuit had seven chapels but only two of them were situated in the extensive area of moorland under consideration in this paper. The work undertaken by Leek and Hulme End outside their own societies became so great that "two planning committees with a Secretary each, one at Leek and the other at Hulme End" * were formed. Two travelling Preachers were for a time appointed to the Circuit and one was stationed at Hulme End. The two societies, 9 miles apart, regularly passed messages to each other by means of the carriers who left various Leek taverns every Wednesday to deliver goods in the Moorland villages. The names of men appointed to the Hulme End Trust and given in the records of a hundred years ago are those names which are still prominent in local Methodism and in village life in Hulme End and district: Harrison, Mellor, Salt, Higton, Yates, Critchlow, Bassett, Cope. It is interesting to note too that in the 1870s, even though the Ecton mines were much less busy, there yet appeared in the list of trustees: John Millward, Miner of Warslow; Richard Wint, Miner of Warslow. During the last third of the 19th century the Leek P.M. Circuit continued its efforts to expand the work in the Moorlands; Chapels at Mixon (1863), Reapsmoor (1876) and Elkstone (1872) were opened and sanction for the building at Bradnop was given in 1889, and frequent references are made in the minutes to plans for further effort, e.g: June 1871 "That Bros. Illingworth, Olley, Yeomans, Booth, Cantrell and Hodkinson be a committee to make arrangements for Cottage services and praying bands." [photograph] Bradnop ex-P.M. Chapel, built 1889, situated. on the main Leek- Ashbourne Road, formerly a society of the old. Fountain Street Circuit. * F.S.2 23. Financial difficulties never halted the work although it was very much a hand-to-mouth existence. Ministerial salary was £23 per quarter and frequently fell in arrears, and the Circuit Stewards were every now and then "requested to lend, or borrow the defioiency for three months." (We shall see in the next section that this was a more or less permanent condition at Warslow.) Economies had to be made in the use of the trap which carried preachers into the hills; occasional collections at all Societies were made in order to defray the trap expenses, and the preachers were asked to subscribe a penny a week for the same purpose. Not lack of money but shortage of manpower compelled the Circuit, from 1886, to look for others to take over Mill Dalc.+ Hugh Bourne registered the first Meeting House there in 1815: 468 A house at MILL DALE parish of ALSTONFIELD registered for protestant dissenters by Hugh Bourne of Bemersley minister on 16 Jan 1815. This distant society, which had been in the circuit from the beginning, became impossible to keep supplied with preachers. At first it was proposed to sell the Chapel; then the Wirksworth, the Winster, and the Ashbourne Circuits were asked in turn to have it "as we cannot supply it for want of local preachers." Quarterly Meeting resolved: "That if arrangements cannot be made with the forenamed stations it would be well to lay the case of the places over the hills before the next District Meeting to be made a Mission." and again: "That we are fully convinced that these distant places cannot be efficiently worked in connection with Leek, with one Minister." Mill Dale was finally transferred to Ashbourne and has remained in that Circuit to this day. But to return to Hulme End Chapel, for the last decade of the century there was a rapid decline in its influence (industry had been stilled at Ecton) and there was considerably more chapel work for the Leek men in the town itself. A Circuit Quarterly Meeting March, 1891, was asking for a second preacher for the Hills (by this time the Circuit was again having to manage with only one) and later in the year writing to the Connexional Committee "in respect of making the Hills into a Mission." From the beginning of Primitive Methodism to the present time it has always been a struggle to keep country chapels going and such places are now closing in increasing numbers. The failure at Hulme End foreshadowed this general decline. Letters exchanged in May, 1914, between the Tunstall District Building Committee and the London headquarters state that "no Primitive Methodist services have been held in the chapel for 17 years and for the last four years the place has been closed." For part of this period the Wesloyans rented the place at an annual rent of ten shillings, but the Primitives made periodic efforts for revival and the Fountain Street minutes show that attempts were made to form new P. M. Trusts in 1909 and 1910. The Wesleyans were given notice to terminate the tenancy in September, 1910, with the prospect of a new start, but early in 1911 we find minuted a resolution to sell the building. The Quarterly Meeting in the following Setember however approved another re-opening and arranged evening services again. Yet again, in March, 1912, they were compelled to record that "it is found impracticable to work the place." The sale took place two years later. The resolution of March 50th, 1914, reads: "We regret that we cannot see our way to re-open it, as several previous attempts have entailed much expense and labour without any seeming result. We are therefore obliged to dispose of it now there is a promising opportunity." The Cause was not quite at an end. For several years the Hulme End P.M. Society continued to meet and hold services in the front room at Manifold House, only a few yards away from the Chapel building which was to serve as corn store. Mr. H.S. Trafford, now living in Newcastle, recalls attending * F.S.2 + F.S.4 4 P.S.5 24. these services, conducted by his grandfater, father and uncle. Accounts of collections taken at these house services are rocorded in Warlow's old account book. When the grandfather, who occupied the house, finally left Hulme End in 1932 to live in Leek, the Society caine to an end and a Q. M. minute of June 5th, 1932 confirms this: "That at the request of Mr. W. Trafford the name of Hulme End be * deleted from the plan in connection with the Warslcw Society, the services being discontinued." 11. WARSLOW Primitive Methodism first came to Warelow in 1814, yet not for 35 years did the Society build the place which is used for worship to this day. Fountain Street P. M. Circuit inherited from Ramsor the chapels at Mill Dale and Hulme End and they added Thornoliffe (built 1839) and Biggin (1842). Warslow was the sixth society in the Circuit to have a permanent building. In the indenture dated 17th January, 1849, it is set down that a small plot + of land was bought for ten pounds and conveyed to Thomas Mellor of Cawlow, John Goodwin of Sheen, George Mellor of Hulme, Moses Bagnall of Warslow, William Barker and William Wint of Warslow (both miners) and Francis Ward of Sheen, "to permit a chapel or meeting-place intended to be erected...for religious worship by such persons as belong to the primitive methodist connexion ,.. according to the tenor and provisions of a certain deed-poll." The 'certain deed-poll' had been drafted twenty years earlier in the names of the founders of the Connexion: Hugh Bourne, James Bourne and William Clowes. James Bourne has received very little attention from historians and was ignored in the documentary about Primitive Methodist origins, The Burning Mountain, recently produced at the Victoria Theatre, Hartshill. But he was in his day clearly recognised as one of the three founders and a commemorative plate preserved at Ramsor Chapel shows his portrait with those of his brother and William Clowes. He appears to have been a more active preacher than Hugh, conducting several services at chapel openings, and his name appears as witness to registrations of dissenters' meeting-houses. A Wesleyan Chapel, with more sittings than the P. M. Chapel but looking about the same size, was opened in the same year. It has been used as a garage for many years. The two chapels had about the same sized congregations on the day of the census in 1851; the Primitive Chapel claimed an average attendance of 100 over the year but the Wesloyan returned no estimate. Here are the relevant extracts from the 1851 Census; those for the Anglican Church are also included. The P. M. Chapel was evidently known as "Mount Pleasant,' a name that is unknown today. EXTRACTS FROM THE 1851 RELIGIOUS CENSUS SITTTINGS ATTENDANCE 30 MAR AVERAGE ATTENDANCE CHURCH Free Others Morn. Aft. Eve. Morn, Aft. Eve. Warslow C.E. 1786 - 250 - 200 - - - - John D. Browne Curate scholars l22 Warslow Wesleyan 1848 100 80 65 - - - - - E. Belfield, Steward Mount Pleasant 40 60 12 - 67 Average 100 Warslov P.M. 1848 Wm. Barker, Chapel Steward * F.S.5 + Circuit Safe, Wetton, It is noticeable that the arrangennts allowed for Methodists of both Connexions to attend the Anglican services and take Communion from an Anglican priest. There is some evidence that at this period some adherents of none conformist chapels would not have regarded the sacrament as authentic if administered by other than an ordained priest. In fact, Primitive Methodist lay preachers could and did legally administer all the sacraments of the church. Interior and exterior views of Warsiow ox-P.M. chapel, built in 1848. This chapel in 1969 again Joined a Leek Circuit after a generation in the now defunct Wetton azt Longnor Circuit. A study of the P.M. "Accompt Book" opened in 1849 shows that the chapel was not free of debt until 1874 ! Thereafter the balance was more often "against the treasurer" than "in hand". Financial poverty in moat P.M. Societies was in fact a permanent condition but it was never allowed to interfere with the work. In October, 1878, for instance, the Circuit Steward * was "to try to borrow £20 on note of hand until Xmas", but at the same meeting it was resolved to purchase a Minister's house in Wood Street, Leek, for £320, and it was urged that the friends at Bradnop build a chapel. Another minute at the same meeting however demonstrates the economy that had. to be practised (and reminds us of the price of coke when it was merely thought of as a by-product:) "That Bro. Ash as the liberty to enquire whether the coaks at 6 pence per cwt include the carriage, if so he may get a few loads." From the earliest days there was close co-operation between the Warslow and Hulme End Societies and `revival,' `missionary' and `Camp' meetings, held jointly, are frequently noticed in the P.M. Magazines from the 1850s to the close of the century. The Chief fund-raiser at Warslow was the Annual Tea Meeting. Here is a typical extract from the magazines: * 1.8.3 26. "Annual Tea Meeting held in Warslow Chapel Good Friday March 25th, * 1855. Numbers came 7-8 miles. 165 persons for tea; addresses by excellent lay preachers. With profits of tea-meeting we shall reduce the debt on the chapel some pounds." The Tea Meeting was the greatest social and religious occasion for Victorian Methodists (and it still survives, though nowadays more often called a Rally), Substantial provision is recorded in the Leek minutes for a Tea Meeting in May, 1862: "10 stones of flour at 8/- a stone for bread, 4 lbs of tea, 50 lbs of sugar and 16 lbs of butter." + In April, 1866, the preachers were requested to "raise a sabbath school at Mill Dale, Warslow and Biggin," and a further meeting in December, 1867, resolved as foflows: "That a sabbath school be established at Worslow and that Bros. Kent and Millward take an active part in the choice of teachers, etc." + Writers generally are agreed that the greatest educational impact of Methodism was upon adults, in class meetings and in social and other activities. Even in the work of the Sunday Schools the education of the teacher was more important then the limited education given to the children. Nevertheless all our P.M. Societies opened Sunday-Schools and by 1870 the one at Warslow had 87 scholars and ten teachers! Things were obviously going well at this time both at Warslow and in the Circuit generally. Tho latter had a membership of 500 (the highest recorded Circuit membership was 540 in the year 1864) and a minute at Q. M. in December, 1877, reads: "That we employ a second preacher for 5 months and that he be stationed at Warslow." (a second `minister' is of course meant). $ The Warsiow Society felt itself by 1869 so well-established in the village that it was proposing to take over the Wesleyan Chapel. This had been built in the same year as the Primitive Chapel, and Warslow was the only Moorland Village with two Methodist places. "That the leading officials at Warslow be consulted in reference = to the Buying of the Wesleyan Chapel at the above place and Brother James Harrison and George Mellor be invited to that meeting as early as possible." But nothing came of this and the Societies were not to be brought together until after Methodist Union in 1932. By the year 1895 all the original trustees had died except George Mellor, and a new Trust was appointed: "March, 1895. George Mellor is willing to continue and the x following are appointed: Thomas Ward, Warslow, Farmer; James C. Johnson, Reapsmoor, Farmer; Albert Prince, Reapsoor, Farmer; Henry Mottram, Leek, Tailor; Henry Eaton, Leek, Manager of Stone and Brick Works; John W. Redfern, Leek, Silk Broker's Agent; James Tomkinson, Leek, Insurance Agent; Cornelius Mountford, Leek, Saddler; William Trafford, Leek, Tailor." Reference should be made, at this point, to members of the Trafford family who did so much work in the Fountain Street Circuit, in Leek and Hulme End, and at Warslow, early in this century, when things were at a low ebb there. (The Circuit lost a fifth of its members during the war). Names of the family - H. Trafford, Percy Trafford, W. Trafford, Roland Trafford and Ray Trafford - all frequently appear in the Q.M. Minutes. The last-named became a lay-preacher after the first world war and the minutes referring to him illustrate again the stages of progress towards becoming accredited. * Mag. 1853 + FS.1 ,$ F.S.3 = F.S,2 x F.S.6 27.. June 2nd, 1919 That Bro. Ray Trafford on his return from * College have a note and to go out with Mr. Peatfield. Dec 4th, 1919 That Bro. Ray Trafford be placed in Plan as an exhorter and to be asked to prepare for a first exam to be held before next Quarter Day. June 3rd, 1920 That Bro. Ray Trafford be put on trial and furnished with his documents. Sept 2nd, 1920 That Ray Trafford be put on full plan. The appointment of Mr. Roland Trafford to the Warslow School proved fortunate for the Chapel. Dec 4th, 1919 That we congratulate Bro. Roland Trafford on * his appointment to the Headmaster of Warslow Council School and we hope he will be able to give valuable assistance to our Warslow Society. He was appointed Society Steward in September, 1920. New Trustees were appointed: George Oulton, John Albert Wood, William Hough, Samuel Braddock, George Henry Torr, Samuel Torr and William Mollatt; and a further minute illustrates the improvement: June 2nd, 1927 That we send a letter of congratulations to Waralow Society on the signs of prosperity and wish them well in their efforts to renovate the property. The future of the Warslow Society was in any case bound up with the proposals which culminated in Methodist Union in 1932. These were first mentioned in the Minutes as early as 1922 when the Ministers of the various Methodist bodies were meeting. Quarterly Meeting two years later voted on Methodist Union: 18 for, 7 against. At Warslow, Union was in fact anticipated by several years and Quarterly Meeting allowed the Society to join up informally with the Wesleyans in 1928; and the P.M. building remained largely unused until 1938. Yet the P.M. Society retained its identity until National Union had been achieved. The deeds of the building were transferred to the Wetton and Longnor Circuit; the following preachers were transferred to the new Circuit; Samuel Wood, A.J. Ray (a successor to Mr. Trafford at the Waralow School), and Miss Marjorie E. Ray, Local Preacher on Trial. Fountain Street Church was amalgamated with that of Bethesda and the following is one of the last resolutions of the P.M. Quarterly Meeting: 3rd September, 1932 "That as this is the last Circuit Quarterly Meeting we shall hold under the constitution of the Primitive Methodist Church, in view of the early consummation of Methodist Union, we record our devout thanks to Almighty God for the glorious history of the Primitive Methodist Church in this town and district. We think of our long association with a name to which we have been deeply attached; of the faithful, life-long devotion of many to a cause so dear to their heart, of the faithful adherence and support throughout the years; of all who have been associated with us in Church; of the consistent service of School Teachers and Officials; of the Private members, Class Leaders, Society Stewards, Circuit Stewards and all who have done their part so worthily in maintaining the work of the Church all these years. We earnestly pray for a continuance of the same service under the new conditions. Though we reluctantly lay aside the old name, we would maintain the same spirit and devotion and carry these with us into the new Church, doing our best to make the Methodist Church of the future, a greater power in the land than ever the separated Churches have been. * F.S.6 28 We recognise the heart burn and sadness inevitable with the period of transition. Remembering that it is an experience through which we all, in common with those of the other unity Churches, are passing, let us make the transition as easy as possible for all, and learn to regard these experiences as the birth pangs of a `eater Church, a new experience, and a richer life for ourselves and for the nation. That we confirm the resolution of the March Quarterly Meeting and declare our willingness to join the other Methodist Churches of the town in forming one Circuit for the town and District, provided the other churches are willing so to unite. That the next Circuit Plan be brought into line with the altered conditions - that in place of the familiar name "Primitive Methodist" we substitute the legal designation "The Methodist Church" - "Leek Second Circuit". That we adopt the new rules and constitution of the Methodist Church as they come into operation on the 20th September next and adjust our church organisations to the new conditions as we are able, Meanwhile we request all our present Officials to remain in office and carry on their work until such times as their appointment can receive official confirmation in the new Church." It was decided that the Warslow ex-Primitive Methodist Chapel was the more suitable building for the combined P.M. and Wesleyan Societies and it was resolved, at a combined Trustees Meeting as follows:- "The Warslow Church decided unanimously to re-open the * ex-P.M. Chapel for worship, and suggest that a New Trust be formed uniting the two places of worship." The ex-Wesleyan Chapel in the village was sold and the ex-PM. Chapel renovated before re-opening on 17th June, 1938, For a period during the renovation, services were held at the home of the late Mr. and Mrs. Lomas. Warslow Methodist Chapel re-opened "Thanks mainly to the untiring efforts of Mr. B.J. Fowler of + Butterton, a Methodist stalwart, the chapel at Warslow was re-opened on Saturday after being closed for decoration and improvement. At the grand re-opening service, held in the open, prior to the opening of the gate and door, the Rev. Thos. Marlow (Superintendent Minister of the Wetton and Longnor Circuit) was in the chair." The old P.M. building continues to serve Methodism in 1970 but underwent yet another change in 1969 when the Wetton and Longnor Circuit (established just a century ago by the Wesleyans) came to an end; the Warslow Chapel is once again part of the Leek Circuit. To conclude the Warslow story here are extracts from the report of the District Commission which assessed the situation in the Circuit and made recommendations for its division:- * Minutes of Trustees' Meetings, Warslow, 16th March, 1958. + Report in Leek Post and Times, 24th June, 1958. 29 The circuit has one ordained minister and 10 chapels - likely * to be reduced to 9 almost immediately as Butterton prepares to close - and 96 members on the latest schedule... Next year the grant from the Home Mission Department will be £300 but even with this help the circuit will be under severe financial pressure.... The membership of the circuit cannot be expected to raise much, if any, more money than they contribute at present. Arrange- ments are likely to have to be made for any increased costs to be met from sources outside the circuit.... In addition to the deficit shown on the plan for the June Quarter, £172. 1s. 6d., there is approximately £80 due for superannuation and tax but held over for payment until funds are available. This will absorb all the money raised at the annual circuit Field Day which is expected to be about £230. This means that there will be a deficit again in September... Whilst there has been faithful service within the circuit for many years there is no reserve of lay leadership. One of the present circuit stewards returned to office as a stop gap until someone else could be found. That was nine years ago... The services in the various societies are dependent on the help of preachers from outside the circuit. This is nothing new for the circuit but there are now only four preachers available for services from within the circuit... That the societies in the circuit be distributed amongst other circuits on the following basis - Wetton - to Ashbourne Hartington - to the Peak circuit. (Biggin is not far away) Butterton - to close. Aistonefield - to Ashbourne. (Milldale is only 1/2 mile away) Warslow - to Leek (7 miles) Longnor - to Buxton (5 miles and a bus service) Rewlach - to Buxton (8 miles) Sheen - to Buxton (8 1/2 miles) Newtown - to Leek (8 miles) Hollinsclough - to Buxton (7 miles) 12. REAPSMOOR Reapsmoor is a small part of an extensive parish called Pawfieldhead, which includes on its Eastern and Western extremities Hulme End and Newtown respectively. From the earliest missioning efforts of the Ramsor Primitive Methodists in the 1820s it seems that there was a keen little band in Reapsmoor, meeting in one cottage or another, or in the open-air, but only able, as late as the 1870s. to think of a regular chapel. It seems likely, in fact, that a Primitive Methodist was heard at Reapemoor as early as 1813, for, in that year, William Clowes, one of the founders, wrote in his Journal: "I preached the gospel of the grace of God at Stonepit Hill, + Fleet Green, Cow Head, Warslow, Hulme End, Allston Field, Mill Dale, Hartington, Butterton, Windy Bank and Onecote; at all the places God poured out His Spirit, many were truly saved, and at most of these places Christian Churches were formed." * Report of a Commission of the Chester and Stoke-on-Trent District under the Chairmanship of Rev. B. Arthur Shaw, 17th September, 1968. + Petty, p.57 30 Reapamoor was famed for its camp meetings; there are certainly more references in the Fountain Street Minutes to the camp meetings there than at other Moorland places, the open-air gatherings held just outside the Chapel at Kirkham's Yard are well within living memory. In the last century the Camp Meetings were held opposite "The Butcher's Arms" in a field belonging to a house still called "The Field". Primitive Methodism was a Camp-Meeting Movement. It was Hugh Bourne's camp-meetings which cost him his membership of the old Methodist Connexion. Yet Bourne and his early associates felt it their duty to go on and believed that their open-air work was fully in line with the words of Wesley himself. Sixty years before Mow Cop the following on "field preaching" was resolved: "Question: Have we not used it too sparingly? * Answer: It seems we have - (i) Because our call is to save that which is lost. Now we cannot expect such to seek us. Therefore we should go end seek them; (2) Because we are particularly called to go into the highways and hedges (which none else will) to compel them to come in; (3) Becauso that reason against it is not good - "The house will hold all that come." The house will hold all that come to the house, but not all that would come to the field." The wonderful success of the Mow Cop Camp Meeting in May, 1807, inspired the efforts first of the men of Ramsor and then of the men of Leek in Reapamoor Jj and in neighbouring villages. There was sometimes remarkable oratory at these camp meetings. They were conducted on no set pattern but exhortations were commonly made and the recital of experiences given. The Love-feast, though sometimes held indoors, was a similar sort of occasion (and Wesleyans too had these.) Reference to a P.M. Love-feast, held a hundred years ago locally, has come down to us: Stanton The Chapel being too small, we held the love-feast in + the field ---- a procession was formed, when such a mass of people I never saw before at such an hour, went in glorious order through the village to chapel to hold the prayer meeting. The chapel was instantly filled, large numbers being unable to get in. Only a very sketchy account of the Reapsmoor Society can be given since the written records are so poor. An idea of the size of the chapel may be gathered from the accompanying photograph taken at K±rkham's Yard. The tiny Primitive Methodist building opened for worship in 1876 at Kirkham's Yard, Reapsmoor, now a corn-place-own-dairy. * Quoted by Farndale from minutes of Conference of 1744. presided over by Wesley. + Mag. 1868 31 The building measures 18 feet square but with 2 feet thick walls the space inside is equal to that of the average living-room. It was not built as a chapel but, according to the present owner (who uses it as a dairy-corn-store), was originally the home of a doctor. Leek had inherited the extensive moorland work, begun from Ramsor, when it became a separate circuit, and from the earliest entries in the Fountain Street Minutes there are references to "Camp Meetings", "Protracted Meetings,' "Tea Meetings," "Revival Meetings," and "Missions," to be held in Reapsmoor and in Hulme End, Hartington, Hollinsclough, Elkstone, Wetton and Butterton. At this time there must have been high hopes of establishing permanent bethels in all these villages. Thdeed land was purchased at Wetton and the Minutes record that steps were taken for building a chapel, but nothing more was heard of it. If few P.M. Chapels were ultimately built in the moorland area there was indeed plenty of activity - it was a period of great works end it is significant that an independent society should have survived at Reapemoor when there was such a powerful one nearby at Hulmne End. In addition there was a Wesleyan Chapel at Rewlach (spelt Rewlatch in old Wesleyan Minutes and Deeds). Mrs. L Lowe, a long-standing member there, recalls that Reapsmoor's was called "The Top Chapel" to distinguish it from Rewlatch's. The following quotations illustrate the great activity in the IByOs; June, 1872 That Elkstone be opened September 8th by Mr. Clowes of Manchester. March, 1874 That Bros. P. Aston and V. Titterton be deputied to see Bro. W. Clowes about opening a place for service at Longnor. September 2nd, 1878 That Bradnop friends have permission to + form a trust with a view to building a chapel providing they can see their way clear to do so. March 28th, 1879 That permission be given to Morridge friends to form a Trust and secure ground for a new chapel. It was in this period that the Reapamoor Society managed to get a permanent roof over its head: for a period in 1872 they had no indoor meeting-place: June, 1872 That Reapsmoor services be held for the present in * the open air. A series of resolutions in the following year shows however a determination to build: September, 1873 That Bro. Aston be at liberty to buy land and * arrange to build a chapel at Reapsmoor. That Bro. P. Aston make application to Sir J. H. Crewe for land to build a chapel at Reapamoor. Nothing came of these plans, though the society carried on and arrangements are minuted for the Sunday School Anniversary in July, 1875. The good work done - in the matter of general education - by Methodist Sunday Schools is illustrated in a mid-19th century report on the Employment of Children and Young Persons at Ecton Mine in the Manifold Valley nearby. The Inspector writes: "At the stamping-mill I examined all of these boys, and found them all able to read fluently, having learnt at the Methodist Sunday School." * F.S.2 + F.S.3 / Report to H.M. Commissioners by Samuel Scriven, 1842. 32 A further resolution to build later that year became unnecessary when a little house was converted for use: September 6th,1875 That the friends at Reapsmoor have liberty to * form a trust and purchase ground to build a chapel. December, 1875 That Reapsmoor friends have liberty to take Mr. Johnson's house, and fit it up for a chapel and have opening sermons and a tea meeting. and the chapel was opened the following year. March 6th, 1876 That Reapsmoor have opening sermons. May 28th * by Mrs. Vernon Like every Methodist Society, Reapsmoor had its potential preachers: December 2nd, 1878 That Bro. Whieldon be examined on Monday + next at Reapamoor and if his exam be satisfactory he be put on the plan as exhorter. September, 1891 That Bro. Prince of Reapsmoor come on plan as exhorter. Methodist Archives at Epworth House, London, have no records of Reapsmoor Chapel, presumably because the building was never Connexional property. Kelly's Directory makes first mention of "Reap's Moor" and Hulme End P.M. Chapels in the edition of 1884, but states that both were built in 1834. (this date applies in fact only to the building of Hulme End chapel.) Many local people still treasure their memories of this little society. Mrs. C. Cundy, now living in Leek, recalls her family's membership at Reapamoor. She was christened there in 1908 by the then superintendent of Leek P.M. Circuit, Rev. Sharman. Her father and grandfather (the Wood family) were two of the numerous local preachers nurtured by the Society. Mrs. Cundy not only recalls vividly the camp meetings at Reapsmoor but also the prayer-meetings, another distinctive feature of Primitive Methodism. Only twenty years after the Opening Sermons at Reapsmoor, the Chapels in the hills were proving to much for the Circuit. The Minute Book in 1896 shows the anxiety of successive quarterly meetings. In August of that year a letter was written to District Committee reminding it of the "mountainous and wild country" in which the eight moorland chapels were situated. The societies have been sinking for a long time, one of the * chapels has been closed for nearly 5 years, and the others will lapse unless something be promptly done. An evangelist was appointed by the District and lodged at Reapsmoor. Subsequently such men were appointed frcn time to time for brief spells, early in this century, especially for Reapamoor and Warslow. Although clearly the original dynamism at Reapsmoor and in the other hill societies had dissipated, yet by 1920 membership at Reapsmoor was greater than at Waralow, judging by the allocations called for in the following list of societies (n.b. Hulme End and Mixon had closed and Milldale had been transferred.) October 7th, 1920 That we ask each society on the Circuit to be responsible for the following amount per quarter. Leek £65. Reapsmoor £3. Warslow £1. 5s., Thorncliffe £2. Bradnop £4. Morridge End £2. Gun End £6. Cellarhead £5. Elkstone £1.lOs. Total £90.15s.Od. * F.S.3 + P.3.4' $ P.3.6 33. Mrs. Lowe recalls specially of the services at Reapsmoor their spontaneity and informality, several preachers sometimes occupying the pulpit and conducting the service on no set pattern. In the winter the services were transferred for greater comfort to the house nearby. Reapsmoor, in its final period, was frequently joined for missions and services with Warslow; the two Societies worked together, as Warslow and Hulme End had done in the latter's last Primitive days. With Warslow, Reapsmoor became part of the Wetton and Longnor Circuit, as Union with the Wesleyans approached, and spent its last few years before closure in the new circuit. According to Mr. H. A. Peacock, a veteran lay-preacher, this closure took place in March, 1957, and "the service was accompanied by the jangling of cows-chains as beasts moved in their standings in the adjoining shed." 13. ELKSTONE(S) Elkstones is part of the Parish of "Warslow and Elkstones" and consists of two small hamlets, Upper and Lower Elkstone* Upper Elkstone, where the Anglican Chapel and tiny day school (due for closure this year) are situated, is the village proper. Elkstone (spelt "Elstone") is first mentioned in the quarterly minutes of the Fountain Street P.M. Circuit in 1857. A "Miss White" is requested to "favor us with a Tea Meeting" * there. The Tea Meeting was a popular way of attracting people to a society as well as being a semi-devotional occasion for members. Making a stable society at Elkstono apparently proved difficult, but the place was regularly planned from the year 1867: "That Elkstone be taken up on Trial till Quarterday and see by then how we go on and what prospect we have there." April, 1866 + "That Elstone come on the plan next year." March, 1867 + Like the other societies discussed in this paper, Elkstone had first been visited by Primitive Methodist preachers from Ramsor, the second circuit, of the connexion, early in the 19th Century. This circuit knew the same opposition faced by Primitive Methodists generally in its early days, as the early Wesleyans had suffered in tho previous century. Miss J.P, Alcock has written of organised opposition, by the Anglican clergy, to Wesleyans in mid-lBth century Congleton: "The scenes of popular conversion with vast multitudes gathering round the preacher - crying out, sobbing, falling to the ground - all were repulsive to the Anglican Church. ---- An even more bitter complaint related to the class status of Methodism. Preaching to miners and colliers, as Wesley had done at Bristol, to silk and ribbon weavers as Bennett had done at Congleton, was to put educated ideas into uneducated heads and not a few clergymen thought that religious enthusiasm could soon become political riot with, as a consequence, an attack on the established order." It was the same story in the neighbouring county of Derbyshire as the Wesleyan preacher, Jon Nelson, wrote in his journal after a visit to Monyash in 1742: * F.S.1 + F.S.2 / Methodism in Congleton, p.8 34 "I went into the Peak to preach at Monyash. When a clergyman * with a great company of men that worked in the lead-mines, all being in liquor, came in just as I began to give out the hymn. As soon as we began to sing they began to halloo and shout as if he were hunting with a pack of hounds, and so continued all the time we sang. When I began to pray he attempted to overturn the chair I stood on --- When I began to preach he called on his companions to pull me down; but they replied `No, Sir, the man says nothing but the truth.' He then came to me himself, and took me by the collar of the shirt and pulled me down." Primitive Methodism was also associated with working-class movements and in its turn accused of upsetting order and disturbing the peace. mc clernr were prominent too in opposition to the "Primitives" as we see in the following report from Swinsoce, one of the earliest Ramsor societies, at about the time Elkstone first came on the regular plan. Maurice Nicholas wrote to the editor of the Primitive Methodist Magazine of "The work of God in the Ramsor Circuit": "Having been favoured with some blessed manifestations of + Divine Power in the conversion of sinners, I thought that it would be well to comply with your request for Revival Intelligence. During summer quarter several large camp meetings have been held. At Swinscoe, the devil and the parson have, and still are doing, all they can to stop the good work, but it is still spreading. Through the influence of the clergyman, two of the farmers have notice to leave their farms on account of attending the chapel. The stroke is heavy, but they are determined to stand their ground. If Gcd be for them, who can be against them?" The Quarterly Meeting decided that "Elkstone by opened September 8th, 1872, by Mr. Clowes of Manchester," and a Sunday School was commenced a year later. It seems incredible that only ten years aftor building the chapel, the Quarterly Meeting was considering closing it. The Chapel had been built at least a mile from the village - and it was a stiff uphill climb into the bargain. Because it was so far removed from the village is perhaps why the chapel finds no mention in 19th and 20th century directories. Looking now at the empty site, in the middle of bleak moorland but with not a single habitation in view, one wonders why the building was so situated. In 1882 the members were "consulted as to closing the chapel and holding the services in some room down in the village."/ Site of Elkstones Chapel, built 1872 and demolished in the 1950s. No habitation con be seen from this position - one commanding long views of borland - except the famous Mermaid Inn. * Dyson, pp 12-13 + Mag 1868 $ P.5.3 35. A "Mr. Warren" was to be asked what was the most he would give for the chapel, and later: "The Building Committee be asked for their consent to the selling of Elkstone Chapel that we may be enabled to build down in the village." * The mark of Primitive Methodism seems in so many places to have prospered only in adversity; to be most effective when it was without a permanent building, compelled to go into a cottage or into the open to do its work. However, Elkatone Chapel was to survive for a generation, though with great difficulty. A minute recorded in December 1879, illustrates a constant theme in the discipline of the Primitive Methodists. "That J,H---of Elkstone be expelled from the Connexion for frequent intoxication." * It will be recalled that Bourne's Norton Camp Meeting in 1807 was designed to counteract the drunkenness and demoralising influence of the wakes. William Clowes, before his conversion, was described thus: "He grew up in sin, was excessively fond of amusements, greatly delighted in drinking and dancing, and was frequently engaged in the diabolical practices of gambling and fighting." + We have seen in earlier quotations from the Fountain Street minutes how severely drinking and gambling were frowned upon by the Connexion. Methodists abhorred the anti-social results of these evils and they would have no member wasting his time and dissipating his energy in drinking and gaining. In the years preceding the outbreak of the first great war the work continued at Elkstone in a desultory way depending upon one or two local people (Mr. and Mrs. Hampson, Mrs. Salt and Mrs. Bould are names appearing in the minutes at this time at Elkstones Stewards) and constant pressure from Leek. The latter is seen in arrangements at Elketone for a Camp Meeting in 1907, Mission Services a year later, and an unsuccessful attempt to appoint a new Trust in 1909 and a recommencement of the Sunday School in 1910. An Evangelist was employed for eight weeks later in 1912 and worked also in Reapsmoor and Warslow. Miss Sis Wood, aged 95, now of Leek, was one of a large Elkstone family and recalls that the chapel had no organ, but that there was a special square pew at the front where the "singer" sat, Her father, Mr. Samuel Wood, acted as singer and would sing the first line after the preacher had announced the hymn. After the war "our Elkatone Cause" end also that at Morridge End are seen to give the quarterly meeting much concern: "That we appoint the following Committee to consider the best course to pursue and give them full authority to make arrange- ments for the carrying on of the work: Messrs. W. Hough, H. Trafford, W. Trafford (Junr), A. Porter and the Minister". $ Mr. and Mrs. Buxton acted as Stewards from 1938 until the closure, but by this time the Society held only monthly services. Permission to sell Elketone Chapel was actually sought just before declaration of the second world war, but it was not until 1955 that this took place, the Chapel having suffered auch from vandalism. The building was demolished. Repairs to the roof of Onecote Chapel were made from the timber and tiles, and some of the stone used for the Thorncliffe Society's extension. * F.S.3 + Petty, p 34. $ F.S.6 36. 14. CONCLUSION The success of Primitive Methodism was largely the achievement of Hugh Bourne's energy and genius. His motive was no less than a burning desire to save mankind. This desire came to him after reading John Wesley and he had in common with Wesley, as I have shown in the first section, no desire to establish a separate denomination. From Wesley he learned the poverty of more orthodoxy, and the distinction between that and true "saving faith." "He manifested himself to me and I was born in an instant, yea, passed from death into life.....In an instant I had power over sin which I had not before, and I was filled with joy and love and glory...The bible looked new; creation looked new and I felt love to all mankind, and my desire was that friends and enemies and all the world...might be saved." The only apparent distinction between the Primitives and the Mother Church from which they separated was that the former was a Camp Meeting movement. Histories of the Societies outlined above have demonstrated that even in remote moorland, far removed from Mow and from the industrial towns, the value of such open-air gatherings was recognised. The differences between the two connexions however ran much deeper. The Wesloyan Church had become a quiet and respectable institution; an inevitable development perhaps with any organisation. It was furthermore a part of middle-class life from which those of the labouring class felt themselves excluded. The chapels discussed in this paper often attracted the least privileged people of the community, just as they made a great impact on the urban industrial poor. The Hulme End Chapel's story illustrates the close identification which Primitive Methodism had with the working-class; that Society gradually ceased to be such a living-force as the copper mines were worked out. The early sections of this paper have also demonstrated the democratic nature of the Primitive Methodist Church. There are still men, nurtured in Primitive Methodism, who opposed the 1932 Union and now dissent from union with the Anglican Church, and the chief memory they treasure is of a church not dominated by professional ministers, either at local or national level. The sometimes dramatic nature of conversion and the salvation of sinners has been illustrated in the histories of our moorland chapels. The Primitive approach appeared to answer a special need of the workers at Ecton near Hulme End. The scene there typifies the ecstatic nature of 19th century Primitive Methodist conversion. Such scenes were distasteful to Wesleyans as to Anglicans. "At Ecton many sinners have been pricked in their hearts, and + with streaming eyes have groaned the sinner's only plea, `God be merciful to me.' While their bosoms heaved, their breasts swelled, and their hearts throbbed with grief, we pointed them to the bleeding cross, and urged them to believe in the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Then through faith they received pardon and could rejoice in the knowledge of sins forgiven, we rapturously sang, My God is reconciled, His pardoning voice I hear. Angels, we believe, rejoiced too, and delightfully viewed the growing empire of their King. John Porter" * Fron Hugh Bourne's Journal, quoted by Farndale, p.16 + Mag. 1857 37 The Primitive Methodist Sunday School's responsibility both for religious and general education has been discussed, but the point has also been made that adult education was the far more important contribution. Frequent references have been made to the lay preachers nurtured by each society (the training involved much study) but in fact all members learned to express themselves fluently in the class meeting. Educational opportunities for the 19th century working-class were few and there are men and women yet living who recall the valuable free education provided by the village chapel. Excerpts quoted from Quarterly Meeting Minutes of the Leek Fountain Street Circuit have been given in illustration ov the severe class discipline which obtained in 19th century Primitive Methodism. Drinking end gaming were recognised by the early leaders, especially Hugh Bourne himself, as major evils of the day and self-imposed obstacles to working-men's emancipation. This strong P. M. resistance to gambling, drinking and the breaking of the sabbath was continued in this century, as is shown by the following excerpts "December 7th, 1908: That a letter be forwarded to Mr. R. Pearce, M.P., expressing our regret at the treatment the Lords have shown to the Licencing Bill by the throwing out of the measure." "May 29th, 1924: That we send a letter of protest to Mr. W. + Bromfield, M.P., against the holding of political meetings on the Sabbath." "March 51st, 1936: That a letter be sent in connection with the + proposed bill re-Football Pools to be introduced April 3rd." Many early political and union leaders had their origins in Primitive Methodist Society. The birth of the Movement took place at a time of great political and economic change: war with France and the Industrial Revolution. Bourne was involved in these things but remained unpolitical. Many Primitive preachers became leaders in political action however and the minutes of even a rural circuit like Leek demonstrate concern to express a Christian view about important matters of the day: "March 3rd, 1921: That the following resolution be forwarded to + the local M.P: `That we regard the system of reprisals in Ireland with grave anxiety, being persuaded that they are pernicious and subversive of authority and contrary to all rightful forms of Government." "August 31st, 1922: That we announce on plan the meeting for + the Russian Famine Fund on October 3rd." "December 5th, 1931: That Sunday, January 3rd be set apart for + special intercession in connection with the forthcoming World Disarmament Conference and that preachers be requested to make reference to this question on that day." The Primitive Methodist attitude to women also deserves a place in any historical summary. Several women preachers have been referred to in this paper (see especially page 14). omen were active Primitive Preachers from the first days of the Movement, some walking several thousands of miles a year to their appointments. The democratic nature of Primitive Methodism admitted women into all the various offices of steward, leader, preacher, etc., and thus the Connexion gave them an equality that was unheard of elsewhere in England for generations. * F.S,5 + F.S.6 38. Walking long distances is something peculiarly associated with old-time preachers (there are still many active men who used to do it) and it is appropriate that a glass case at Hartley Victoria College should contain among other relics a pair of Hugh Bourne's worn-out boots. These old-time leaders spent all on their preaching work and suffered poverty, hunger and privation. It seems from a reading of his Journal that Hugh Bourne would have liked to marry and have a family but instead practised a rigorous self-denial. This history contains local examples of persecution too. The local clergy usually led the opposition and often employed mobs to throw stones and filth at the itinerant preachers. The early history of Primitive Methodism locally and nationally is filed with stories of heroes who persisted in preaching the Word in spite of all that the opposition could do. The last Primitive Methodist Conference was held at Middlesborough in June, 1952. There were then reported 222,021 members, 1,131 ministers, 12,896 local preachers, 4,356 Connexional chapels, 4,007 Sunday Schools, 377,792 scholars and 52,457 teachers, 11,429 class-leaders with chapel and manse property valued at £7,769,500. How did they do it? The answer given at that Conference was: "Man must be born again and filled with the Spirit. That was what our fathers saw." The figures just quoted are of course in themselves of little importance, but they reflect the simple and direct appeal which the Movement made to hundreds of thousands of ordinary people, giving them dignity and responsibility. Dr. J. H. Jowett recognised this in a Speech at a Centenary Meeting in Birmingham Town Hall in 1909: "More than in any other Communion," he said, "your laity are the ordained Ministers of Grace, truly and joyfully recognised as the Priests and Kings and Prophets of God. This has been one of your great glories. You have recognised the holy order of the grocer and the cobbler, the warehouseman, the miner and the clerk, and the blessed Lord has confirmed your recognition in a marvellous outpouring of redeeming Grace." LIST OP SOURCES USED Reference to these in the History are indicated by the abbreviations. Primary Mss The Six Quarterly Minute Books of the Leek Fountain Street Primitive Methodist Circuit ("F.S," I to 6) Deeds, Conveyances and other miscellaneous records in the Circuit safe, Vetton. Warsiow P.M. Chapel "Accompt Book" begun in 1849. Census of Great Britain 1851: Religious Worship in England & Wales ("Census") Printed Hugh Bourne (1836): History of the Primitives up to the Year 1832 ("Bourne") The Primitive Methodist Magazines (1814 - 1932) ("Mag") WesLeyan Methodist Plan ot 1832 (Leek Circuit) White's Gazetteer and Directory, 1834 and 1851 ("White") Kelly's Directories of the County of Stafford from 1854 ("Kelly") General Minutes of the Conference of the Primitive Methodist Connexion. Barbara Donaldson; The Registration of Dissenting Chapels and Meeting Houses in Staffordshire, 1689-1852; Staffs. Hist. Collection, 4-iii ("SHC") The Leek Wesleyan Methodist Circuit Year Book, 1886. Leek Post and Times. Newspaper Cuttings relating to P.M. Centenary Celebrations, May 1907 (Hanley RS 128.7) Non-contormity in Leek and Neighbourhood (compiled by Joseph `Lovatt, early 20th century.) Secondary Rev. J.B. Dyson: A Brief History of Wesleyan Methodism in the Leek (1843) Circuit ("Dyson") John Petty: The History of the Primitive Methodist Connexion (1880) from its Origin to the Conference of 1860 ("Petty") H.B. Kendall: The Origin and History of the Primitive Methodist (1906) Church ("Kendall") W.E. Farndale The Secret of Mow Cop ("Farndale") (1936) A. Wilkes and J. Lovatt: Mow Cop and the Camp Meeting Movement (1942) ("Wilkes") Spencer and Finch: The Constituional Practice and Discipline of the (1951) Methodist Church ("Spender) J.W. Wardle: Sketches of Methodist History in Leek and the (1943) Moorlands 1753 to 1953 ("Wardle") Geoffrey M. Morris: The Origin and Early Development of Primitive (1965) Methodism in Derbyshire. Peter G. Murcott Some Aspects of Primitive Methodism in Stafford. (1968) Joan P. Alcock: Methodism in Congleton (1967) Rex C. Russell: Methodism and the Provision of Day Schools (1969) John T. Wilkinson: Arthur Samuel Peake, Essays in Commemoration. (Ed.) (1958)