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John Wesley, a Church of England cleric
and Christian theologian founded the Methodist movement with
his brother Charles. They specialised in open-air preaching
as a way of bringing their doctrine to the masses. They
often met with much opposition and mob violence, especially
from members of the established church.
In 1742 Charles Wesley came to
Wednesbury and preached at Holloway Bank. He made several
converts who met regularly, and encouraged his brother John
to visit the town. His first visit took place on 7th and 8th
January, 1743 during which he gave a sermon at Wednesbury
Market Cross and preached 3 times at Holloway Bank. He
returned to the town in April, 1743 but was met with great
hostility, fuelled by the Parish Church vicar, Edward
Egginton. He returned the following month and arranged a
march to Walsall, where he preached, and was met by a
stone-throwing mob.
John Wesley greets the Wednesbury mob.
His next visit to Wednesbury on 20th
October, 1743 was also quite violent. He preached from the
now famous 'horse block' at the High Bullen without
incident, and went to Francis Ward’s cottage. While he was
there the mob arrived and soon moved on, but by 5 o’clock
they returned and surrounded the cottage with cries of
“Bring out the minister!” The mob’s leader entered the
cottage to see Wesley, who went out to talk to the assembled
crowd. They asked him to go with them to see the magistrate
at Bentley Hall. He consented to do so, and along with some
of his colleagues and a crowd of 300, they proceeded to see
Mr. Lane at Bentley Hall. Mr. Lane told them to go home and
be quiet, but this was not good enough, so they escorted
Wesley to see another magistrate, Mr. Persehouse at
Reynold's Hall in Walsall. Mr. Persehouse had retired for
the night and so the crowd decided to go home. At this point
they were attacked by a mob from Walsall, into whose hands
Wesley fell. His captors were very hostile, and while they
were deciding what to do, Wesley began to pray aloud. The
leader of the mob was so moved by his words that he had a
change of heart and let Wesley and his friends go. That
night they returned to Wednesbury having had a lucky escape.
In November of that year violence broke
out in West Bromwich, and also in Darlaston after Vicar
Egginton’s visit. The violence continued in Wednesbury when
a mob assembled at Church Hill. Wesley himself came to the
town and preached without incident. He left on the morning
of 6th February, 1744 and was accompanied on the first part
of his journey by James Jones a fellow Methodist preacher.
When Jones returned to Wednesbury he found his fellow
Methodists in prayer, having heard that a mob would arrive
the next day from Darlaston to plunder the house of every
Methodist in the town. At 8 o’clock the next morning Jones
addressed his fellow Methodists. As he was doing so the mob
entered the town and began to break into the houses. Jones
went into hiding and left for Birmingham early the next day.
The mob entered each of the leading Methodist’s houses,
breaking windows and window frames, smashing everything
inside and generally wrecking the place. Anything of value
was taken away. No resistance was offered and most people
fled, only some of the children remained, not knowing what
to do.
The next day similar outrages were
carried out at Aldridge, but this time the returning mob was
relieved of their spoils by a group of responsible citizens
who took the goods to the Town Hall and invited the owners
to come and collect them. Some of the victims unsuccessfully
attempted to obtain a warrant against the principal rioters,
but none of the local magistrates would comply.
Wesley came to Walsall in 1764 and
preached without incident. At the time the Methodists met in
a room in New Street. In 1770 a room in Dudley Street was
hired for meetings, and in 1790 the loft over the stables at
the Castle Inn in George Street was acquired.
Wesleyan
Chapels
Central Walsall
In 1801 a Wesleyan chapel opened in
Bedlam Court, on the south side of High Street, which from
1807 included a Sunday School. During 1821 a new chapel was
built in Ablewell Street as a replacement. It opened in 1829
and included a minister's house and a Sunday school. A
vestry was added in 1834, and the school was extended to
include a classroom for girls.
The new chapel was well attended, and
became the most important Methodist chapel in the area. In
1859 a larger replacement chapel was built on an adjacent
piece of land. The building, designed by William and Samuel
Horton of Wednesbury, is built of red brick with stone
dressings. In 1929 a new frontage was added, and it became
known as Central Hall. The old chapel was then converted
into a school.
In the 1920s a new organ built by
Nicholson & Lord of Walsall was installed in Central Hall.
The organ has featured in many organ recitals and concerts,
and is one of the best organs in the town. In 1972 and 1973
more building work took place at Central Hall, including a
conference centre.
There was a Wesleyan Methodist church
on the corner of Butts Road and Lichfield Road. The original
church on the site opened in 1883, and was replaced in 1910
by Mellish Road Church. The building was designed by Hickton
& Farmer of Walsall, and built in brick and stone, with a
nave, transepts, and a tower with a spire. A Sunday school
was built next to the church in 1887, and rebuilt in 1935.
The church continued in use until 1992 when large cracks
appeared in the walls, thought to be the result of
subsidence due to old limestone workings. The church's fate
was sealed in 2008 when it became the victim of an arson
attack. It has since
been sold.
Another Wesleyan Methodist Church can
be found in Edward Street. It opened in 1903 and is called
Reedswood Methodist Church. It contains an organ built by
Nicholson and Lord of Walsall.
Bloxwich
By 1781 Methodists were meeting in
Bloxwich in an old flax oven on Bullock’s Fold in Chapel
Field, just off what is now Park Road. It became a chapel in
1795, and continued in use until 1832 when a new Wesleyan
chapel was built to the south, in Park Road. It was known as
Central Hall, and remained in use as a church until a
replacement chapel was built in 1865. It later became a
workshop, a cinema, a garage, and a factory. The cinema
known as the Central Picture Palace was run by the Bloxwich
Picture Company, and could accommodate 500 people. In 1915
and 1916 it was leased to Tom Wood of Bilston and became
known as Wood's Palace. In 1921 the cinema was used by Pat
Collins, who in 1922 converted it into a store and a repair
centre for his fairground rides. The building still survives
as a catalogue clearance furniture shop.
In 1865 a new chapel opened in Victoria
Avenue, built in Gothic style with a bell tower. It stood on
the corner of High Street and Victoria Avenue, where the
Total store is today. It was designed by S. and J. Loxton of
Wednesbury, and remained in use until 1963, when it was
replaced by the modern St. John’s Methodist Church in
Victoria Avenue.
Brownhills
There was a Wesleyan Methodist chapel
on the corner of Brownhills High Street and Pier Street. Its
choir was well known in the area. In 1964 the congregation
amalgamated with worshippers from Mount Zion Primitive
Methodist Church, which was demolished to make way for new
shops in High Street. In April 1967 the worshippers moved to
a new church known as Brownhills Methodist Church, situated
in Silver Street, Brownhills. The church is an Alpine styled
building, which contains the old pipe organ from Mount Zion
Chapel.
Caldmore
In the 1870s a group of Wesleyan
Methodists were meeting in Corporation Street. In 1876 and
1877 they built Trinity Chapel in Corporation Street. It was
built of brick with stone dressings and designed by Samuel
Loxton. The building consisted of a nave, transepts, and a
tower with a spire. A Sunday school was added in 1906. The
church continued in use until the 1950s when it was replaced
with a modern design by C. C. Gray of Walsall. The new
church called Caldmore Methodist Church opened in 1958.
Leamore
In 1862 a Wesleyan chapel was built on
the western side of Bloxwich Road to the design of S. and J.
Loxton of Wednesbury. It was extended in 1864. By the 1960s
the chapel closed, and in 1963 was purchased by the
corporation for demolition. A replacement chapel opened two
years later on the corner of Bloxwich Road and Carl Street.
Palfrey
In 1863 a chapel opened in Dale Street,
near to a private house where services had previously been
held for at least six years. By 1868 a Sunday school had
opened in the chapel, and in 1887 a Sunday school was built
on the site. During 1909 and 1910 the chapel was rebuilt in
brick with stone dressings, to the design of Hickton &
Farmer of Walsall. It closed in 1974.
Pelsall
In 1830 Methodists were meeting at
Heath End, Pelsall, where a chapel was built in 1869. The
chapel was refurbished, and a pipe organ installed in 1905
and 1906. Most of the congregation lived locally in an area
of old houses, which by the late 1940s were quite run down.
The houses were demolished, and the occupants re-housed
elsewhere. Because most of the congregation had been
re-housed, and left the area, attendances fell, and so in 1959
the decision was taken to close the chapel, which was
demolished a short while later.
In the late 1830s a second chapel and a
school (Wesleyan Day School) were built in Station Road as a
result of a petition from the local community. In 1858 the
school came under government control, and in January 1859 a
new teacher arrived. The chapel soon became too small for
the congregation and so
in 1858 a replacement chapel (the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel)
was built in Chapel Place, (now Chapel Street) on land given
by the Bloomer family who owned Pelsall ironworks.
In 1866 the Wesleyan Day School also
moved into Chapel Street, into a new building that was built
thanks to the generosity of the Bloomer family. The school
was extended in 1895, and continued in use until 1959. Due
to the decline in the number of worshippers, the Wesleyan
Methodist Chapel closed in 1967, and the congregation
amalgamated with worshippers from the old Primitive
Methodist Chapel in Paradise Lane (dating from 1853), to
form Pelsall’s Society of Methodists. Both chapels were
closed and replaced with a new Methodist Church in Chapel
Street, which opened in 1970.
Pleck
By the late 1820s Methodists were
meeting at a road sweeper's cottage in Narrow Lane, Pleck. In
1830 the group moved to a cottage in Wellington Street, and
in 1840 opened a chapel in Chapel Street, off Pleck Road.
Initially attendances were quite modest (around 40) but
within twenty years the chapel was overflowing, and so in
August 1861 a new and larger chapel opened on the corner of
Regent Street and Oxford Street. Five years later a Sunday
school was built opposite the chapel in Regent Street. In
1890 the chapel was extended. |
