Primitive Methodists in Salford

The Primitive Methodist chapel shown on map of about 1880

Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service does not hold very much information on Primitive Methodism in Salford. There are a few volumes of circuit reports which mention Primitive Methodists at Salford, who formed part of the Leighton Buzzard Connexion. A property register from the 1850s notes that there was a meeting in Salford which had no Sunday school [MB1551]. This was not a chapel since there is no chapel schedule for the building so the worshippers would have met in someone's house or barn. The circuit baptism register gives the following entries for Salford people (more may have lived at Salford Ford but would be included under Aspley Guise since this part of Salford was part of Aspley Guise until the parish boundary was moved to the central reservation of the M1 motorway in 1984:

• 20th July 1845: Thomas, son of Thomas Kinder, day labourer and Eliza, his wife;
• 21st August 1845: Susan, daughter of James Tomkins, day labourer and Arabella, his wife;
• 3rd January 1846: Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Eliza Kinder;
• 27th July 1862: Martha, daughter of Thomas Bennett of Salford Ford, innkeeper [presumably the Red Lion] and Catherine, his wife
• 28th October 1862: Louisa, daughter of James and Arabella Tomkins;
• 4th June 1863: George, son of James Talbott, cordwainer and Sarah, his wife;
• 4th June 1863: Henry, son of Susan Marshall of Water Hall, Aspley Guise;
• 7th June 1863: William, son of Reuben Nursall, agricultural labourer of Salford in "Aspley Guise parish" and Ann, his wife;
• 3rd May 1865: Rose, daughter of Reuben and Ann Nurshaw.

On 17th August 1866 a Primitive Methodist chapel was registered at Water Hall, Salford Ford by John Wilson of Linslade, town missionary. This registration was cancelled on revision in 1897. The chapel stood on the north side of Wavendon Road where today the Old Chapel House stands. The cancellation of registration in 1897 must signal closure because this property is not marked as a chapel on the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901.

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. Salford Ford, still part of Aspley Guise, was assessed, like most of the county, in 1927 and the valuer visiting the property [DV1/C258/35] found it owned by J. Sturgess and occupied by J. Lunnon who paid rent of 16/8 per month. Accommodation comprised a living room, a kitchen, two bedrooms and a boxroom with a barn and earth closet standing outside. The valuer commented "Good. Double front. Bad at back". Another hand has written: "If only 2 Beds they must be 22 feet long each".

Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service has no records from the chapel at Salford Ford because in 1875 Salford, along with a number of other local chapels, was moved into the Newport Pagnell [Buckinghamshire].

The Old Chapel House December 2011