The Methodist Church in Cumbria Keswick and Cockermouth Circuit Primitive Methodism in the Circuit

Old Churches from the Primitive Methodist Tradition

The Primitive Methodist Church began in Staffordshire, England as a reaction to the gentrifying attitude of the Wesleyan Methodists of that time. Their desire to return to open-air preaching commonly practised by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, earned it the title 'Primitive'. From its base in the Potteries, Primitive Methodism spread around the country reaching this part of Cumbria in the 1830s.

Primitive Methodist Churches in this area were organised in a circuit originally headed by Whitehaven and later by Maryport. In 1893 Cockermouth became the head of a separate circuit, which included the churches in this section, along with Dearham and Broughton Moor, now in an area covered by the present Maryport Circuit. Sadly the four churches below have all since closed.

New Street Methodist Church, Cockermouth.
Ex-Primitive, converted from a school in 1885.
Closed for worship 1953.
Grid Ref: NY117305.

Primitive Methodism in Cockermouth goes back to the 1830s. At that time the members met in a room on St Helen's Street and later, in 1840, at another room at Vinegar Hill.
In 1842 they hired the old Wesleyan chapel in High Sand Lane, know today as Victoria Hall, eventually buying it from the Wesleyans in 1851 when the latter moved to Market Place.
Finally, in 1885 the congregation moved to New St, which at that time was being used as a school. This move cost them over £800, half of which used to convert (!) the school. The worshippers closed their building in the summer of 1953, many becoming active members at the ex-Wesleyan Church in Lorton St.
The building is now used as six dwellings.

Tithebarn Street Methodist Church, Keswick.
Ex-Primitive, built 1869.
Closed for worship 2003.
Grid Ref: NY263235.

In the 1830s a Primitive Methodist minister, Rev R Lyon, visited Keswick and tried to start a cause there. It began with great numbers, and by 1833 there were 40 members. However the Society was led by the White family and when they left in 1836 the cause collapsed. By 1840 a new attempt had begun, but shortly after lapsed. Another cause, more permanent this time, arose in the mid-1850s. They met over a stable in Head's Lane, and by 1869 they built a church, in a visible place in the town. In 1894 a Sunday School was attached to the church. It is reputed that Frank Buchman, the founder of Moral Re-Armament, was converted during the Keswick Convention at a service at Tithebarn St in 1908.

The members reluctantly agreed to close in 2003 and Methodism now focuses all its energies on the remaining site in Keswick at Southey Site.

Little Broughton Methodist Church.
Ex-Primitive, built 1869.
Closed for worship 1970.
Grid Ref: NY077318.

As a village Little Broughton is now attached to Great Broughton, three miles west of Cockermouth. Primitive Methodists began meeting in the village around 1840, but the cause did not last. By 1850 a more lasting group began meeting and built this church in 1869; it was enlarged in 1908. In the summer of 1953 they began sharing alternating services with the Great Broughton (ex-Wesleyan) Church. This arrangement eventually led the members joining together at the other chapel when this Chapel held its final service in December 1970.

The building is now used as a house.

Blindcrake Methodist Church.
Ex-Primitive, converted from two houses in 1894.
Closed for worship 1998.
Grid Ref: NY147346.

Blindcrake is a small village about three miles north east of Cockermouth. In 1750 the local Isel Estate built a small row of cottages. The end two cottages before 1894 had been changed into a place for bacon curing (downstairs), and a meeting place for a group of Primitive Methodists (upstairs). These Methodists had been meeting much earlier, at least by 1867, with 12 members in 1875. In 1894 they bought the building for £120 and converted it into a chapel.

In 2000 the loss of some key members led to the decision to close the chapel. It was sold in 2001 and has since been converted back to a house.

The nature of the early Methodist movement was such that causes arose in many places, though rarely based in a chapel to begin with. This meant that any cause which did not last would be easy to remove. Many communities, other than those already mentioned, had a Methodist interest at some time. These include in the Primitive tradition:

• Deanscales c1840
• Dovenby c1840
• Greysouthen c1867