Methodists in Langford

Chapel Hill, Langford in 1905. The Methodist Chapel can be seen in the distance [ref: Z1130/71/3] 

The first Methodist Chapel in Langford was built in what came to be known as Chapel Street in 1835. Methodism was well-established in Biggleswade, their Sunday School having opened in 1811, so Langford may have been a ‘church plant’. In 1842 the Hitchin and Biggleswade Circuit, to which the chapel initially belonged, was split up and Langford was assigned to the new northern circuit. It comprised 12 churches, listed in this order: Biggleswade, Baldock, Beeston, Shefford, Stotfold, Steeple Morden, Ashwell, Newnham, Hinxworth, Norton, Clifton, and Langford. The first known registration of a chapel in Langford was in February 1854 by ‘Robert Maxwell, Wesleyan minister from Biggleswade.’ He registered chapels at Biggleswade, Sandy, Shefford and Stotfold on the same day. The original Methodist building was sold in 1862 and converted into two cottages, which were demolished after the Second World War.

A new church was built in three stages. It was of typical non-conformist design. The new building fulfilled the need for a non-conformist meeting-place at a time when the distinction between Church and Chapel was considerable. A subscription list was started on 29 July 1861. Within a year £225 had been raised and this was spent on constructing the chapel. The total cost, including the gallery at the front end, was £525, of which £50 came from the sale of the old chapel round the corner in The Leys.

By 1869 the congregation had grown to such an extent that a further £220 was spent on enlarging the building at the far end by about one-third of its length. In 1881, a Choir Gallery was built at that end facing the other gallery. A vestry and a small schoolroom were included underneath, and the total cost was £52.

The Circuits for Langford were Biggleswade and Hitchin until 1842; Biggleswade from 1842 to 2010 and it is currently part of the North Bedfordshire Circuit.

Ecclesiastical Census

On Sunday 30th March 1851 a census of all churches, chapels and preaching-houses of every denomination was undertaken in England and Wales. The local results were published by Bedfordshire Historical Records Society in 1975 as Volume 54, edited by D W Bushby. The return for Langford church noted the following pieces of information:

• The church had 165 sittings (70 free, 95 other)
• The general congregation had been 60 in the afternoon, 150 in the evening

The Methodist Chapel, 2024 

List of sources at Bedfordshire Archives: 

• MB2/LAN/1/2894: Baptism register, 1871-1954 
• MB2/LAN/3/946-948: Collection journals, 1893-1973
• MB2/LAN/7/961-962: Sunday School account books, 1900-1948
• MB2/LAN/3/949: Poor fund account book, 1917-1967
• PCLangford24/2: Notification of proposal for a bronze plaque for Wesleyan church, 1920
• MB2/LAN/16/953-957: Pulpit Notice Books, 1920-1971 
• MB2/7/958-960: Sunday School meeting minutes, 1923-1963 
• MB2/LAN/7/963-965: Sunday School Teachers Roll, 1926-1967
• MB2/LAN/2/943-945: Trustees minute books 1939-1978 
• MB2/LAN/7/966-969: Star Register rolls, 1945-1959
• MB2/LAN/3/950: Seat rent ledger, 1948-1959
• MB2/LAN/3/951: Collection register, 1951-1961
• MB2/LAN/3/952: Vestry cash book, 1961-1965
• MB2/LAN/5/974: Printed card giving Holy Week and Easter services, 1963
• MB2/LAN/7/975: File of minutes of Church Youth Council, 1965-1969
• MB2/LAN/6/976: Plan of extension, 1970 
• BTNegG227/46-49: Negative of Langford Methodist Bazaar