PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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John Wesley (1703-1791) founded the Wesleyan Methodist Society in 1738. One of his followers, George Whitefield (1714-1770) soon began preaching throughout the land but his views were to differ from those of John Wesley. Whitefield's supporters built him a Tabernacle in London in which to preach his Calvanistic views. Wesley still considered himself a member of the Church of England and never planned the Methodist Church as a separatist movement, intending that worshippers should go to Church in the morning and Chapel on a Sunday evening. Calvinistic Methodism was the first to be established in Plymouth. A Mr Andrew Kinsman of Tavistock had been converted after reading one of Whitefield's sermons. He moved to Plymouth, where he set up business as a grocer, and founded the Tabernacle at Breton Side in the garden at the rear of his house. Whitefield visited the Tabernacle in about 1744 when he passed through Plymouth on his way to America. Wesleyan Methodism was established in Plymouth in 1745, a year before John Wesley paid his first visit to the Town. Members met in private houses and there was a great deal of open-air preaching, some of which brought about open hostility. There were occasional meetings in the Moravian Chapel at Dock and in the old Tabernacle in Plymouth. John Wesley first visited Plymouth Dock on September 3rd 1746. He walked there from Plymouth with Mr Herbert Jenkins, a local preacher, who then preached to a congregation that by all accounts was not much impressed and walked away almost as soon as he started. However, very early the next morning Wesley himself preached to a more receptive congregation that included many supporters from Plymouth itself. It is not known where this event took place. At a Wesleyan conference on November 16th 1749 country was divided into twnety "circuits", of which Cornwall and Plymouth was number 8. It would be interesting to know why Plymouth was not included in the Devon circuit. In 1750 Kinsman became a regular minister locally and the following year moved to Plymouth Dock, where he found a private house in Queen Street in which he preached to 16 followers. Then in 1752 he built a meeting-house in Granby Street on the site later occupied by the Classical and Mathematical School and after that by the Granby Cellars. This became known as the Higher Room while the older premises became the Lower Room. As the congregation expanded so the Higher Room was enlarged until in 1801 the Princes Street Chapel was erected on the site that George Whitefield had used for his first open-air meeting in Dock. It should be mentioned that the old Tabernacle remained Kinsman's property until his death, when he left it in trust for the purpose of perpetuating the gospel. This bequest was annulled by the Mortmain Act and Kinsman's son became the owner. He fell out with the minister, however, who wanted to get married while Kinsman junior preferred him not to. He thus padlocked the door and planted himself in a house opposite with loaded pistols ready to shoot anyone who came near his property. The ousted congregation met in the Baptist Chapel and then on December 8th 1797 opened the Norley Chapel, which was also known as the New Tabernacle. Norley Chapel was the first dissenting place of worship in Plymouth to boast an organ. It was built by a Mr Redstone of Turnchapel at the expense of a Mr Cater. This however led to a split within the chapel and part of the congregation returned to the Old Tabernacle. The first Wesleyan chapel in the Three Towns was opened in Lower Street, Plymouth, in 1779, thanks to the efforts of Mr Redstone, the carpenter of Turnchapel, and Mr Nehemiah Jane, a quarterman from the Dockyard. This was followed in 1785/86 by the Ker Street Chapel in Plymouth Dock. Congregations were formed at Underwood, Plympton, and at Oreston, Plymstock, in 1789. Stonehouse followed in 1796, Ridgeway, Plympton, in 1798, and Knackersknowle (Crownhill) in 1799. After Wesley's death in 1791 the movement began to split up into Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists and United Free Methodists and in 1815 the Bible Christians were founded. There were several splits from the local Methodist congregations in Dock. The first, under the Reverend J Wilkinson, resulted in the erection of a small Calvinist chapel in South Street. Likewise, the old Baptist Chapel in Morice Square had been built for a Mr Moore who had broken away from the Wesleyan side of the Church. Just prior to 1823 the final break from the Princes Street Chapel occurred and resulted in the construction of the Mount Zion Calvinist Chapel in Ker Street. Other congregations had been formed in the meantime: at Tamerton in 1803; at Turnchapel, Plynstiock, in either 1809 or 1810; at Elburton, Plymstock, in 1821; and at Jump (Roborough) in 1830. The United Methodist Free Church was formed in 1835 and used the Old Tabernacle in Plymouth and the Tabernacle in Gloucester Street, Devonport, for their worship. In 1862 they acquired the old Plymouth Brethren chapel in Ebrington Street, which they re-named Hope Chapel and in 1866 they moved to the old Salem Chapel in Albert Road in Devonport, replacing the Calvanists who in turn moved to Gloucester Street. A further group, the Primitive Methodists, had a small chapel also in Ebrington Street, which had been used by various other denominations over the years. On September 20th 1932 the four Methodist groups (Wesleyan (1784), Primitive Methodists (1811), United Methodist Free Church (1857), and the United Methodists (1907)) merged again to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain and Ireland, following a conference in the Albert Hall in London. A comprehensive scheme involving the purchase and conversion of the Hope Baptist Church in Fore Street, Devonport, into a Central Hall, and the sale of Ker Street and Morice Street Methodist Churches, was launched in December 1924. CHAPELS IN PLYMOUTH
CHAPELS IN PLYMOUTH DOCK/DEVONPORT
CHAPELS IN EAST STONEHOUSE CHAPELS IN GREATER PLYMOUTH
SEE ALSO Bible Christian Chapels CHAPELS IN PLYMPTON CHAPELS IN PLYMSTOCK SEE ALSO Bible Christian Chapels
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