Methodists in Knotting

The former Methodist Chapel April 2015

There is no return for Souldrop in the Ecclesiastical Census of 1851, which sought to get countrywide numbers for people attending worship on Sunday 30th March. This clearly indicates there was no chapel building in Souldrop at the time.

On 13th April 1889 Wesleyan minister Arthur James Pickworth of Higham Ferrers [Northamptonshire] registered the Wesleyan chapel at Knotting Green. An abstract of title [X547/40] tells us that the site of the chapel was conveyed for no money by Charles Magniac of Sharnbrook to the aforesaid Arthur James Pickworth on 14th July 1888. The conveyance included a clause that if the buildings erected on the site ceased to be used as a Methodist place of worship for more than three months written notice was to be given to Magniac’s heirs giving them the option to buy the building from the trustees.

Methodism in Knotting, however, has a longer history. Records of the Higham Ferrers Wesleyan Circuit held by Northamptonshire Archive Service [CRT170/6/19] show that Knotting joined the circuit in 1843. Circuit records held at Northamptonshire which mention Knotting include: a trustee minute book from 1890 to 1970. In 1932 the Wesleyans came together with the Primitive and the United Methodists to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain.

A list of records from Knotting chapel held at Northamptonshire comprises:

• An account book: 1929-1958;
• A trustees’ minute book: 1956-1977;
• An account book: 1959-1977;
• Reports of inspection of the chapel: 1968-1973;
• Notes about the tenure of the chapel, its closure and damage to the building: 1957-1974.

From the above, the chapel seems closed in the early 1970s.