Buxton Road Wesleyan Methodist Church, Huddersfield
The following source list was originally available only on paper in one of the West Yorkshire Archive Service offices. It may have been compiled many years ago and could be out of date. It was designed to act as a signpost to records of interest on a particular historical subject, but may relate only to one West Yorkshire district, or be an incomplete list of sources available. Please feel free to add or update with any additional information. |
Known initially as Old Bank Wesleyan Methodist Church.
There are said to have been Methodists in Huddersfield as early as 1743, probably using members own houses for meetings and attending Huddersfield Parish Church for worship. John Wesley visited Huddersfield in 1757 and visited at various times until 1790. He had a turbulent friendship with the evangelical Henry Venn, vicar of Huddersfield, 1759 - 1770. Venn allowed Wesley to preach in the parish church between 1764 - 1768. George Whitefield also stayed in Huddersfield and preached in the parish church in 1767. Huddersfield was a preaching centre in the Birstall Circuit in 1765. Rooms in Benjamin Malllinson's house was licensed for Methodist worship in 1766. Later Edmund Bray's house in Kirkgate was used for services. A chapel was built in Chapel Hill in 1775 and Huddersfield Circuit was established in 1780, it stretched as far afield as Marsden, Flockton, Dodworth and Langsett. The chapel was taken over by the New Connexion in 1797 and the Wesleyans had to leave and find other premises. A court case was held over ownership of the chapel in 1810 and as a result the Wesleyans regained use of the chapel between c1813 - 1814 and New Connexion had to leave to find their own premises. The building was used to house Queen Street Sunday School between 1814 - 1837. Preaching services began to be held again in chapel form from 1835, the chapel was rebuilt in 1837. It reopened as a chapel and Sunday School seperate form Queen Street in 1837 and became the head of a seperate circuit in 1845. Many members seceded and became Wesleyan Reformers between 1850 - 1851. A Sunday School was built in Chapel Street behind the existing chapel between 1872 - 1873. The chapel was renovated in 1892 and closed in 1950 with many members joining Queen Street Methodist Church.