Wesleyan Methodists in Stotfold

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, c.1913 [ref: Z1306/115/3/1]

In 1786 a buildng in the tenure of William Bennet and owned by William Bristow was licenced for the use of Wesleyan Methodists. Among the applicant sfor the licensing were Edward Saunders, William Sarll, James and William Levitt. 

At the beginning of the 19th century services were held in a thatched cottage on the south side of the Green, then later a barn close by. In 1824 a Methodist Chapel was built and was registered on the 21st December 1824. Shortly afterwards it was enlarged and a gallery placed in it. 

The chapel started to become too small for the existing congregation and large Sunday School. The present chapel was built in 1869 at a cost of £1,400. When the Primitive Methodist chapel closed in 1973 it amalgamated with the Wesleyan church.

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 Stotfold Wesleyan Methodist church noted the following pieces of information:

• The church had 157 sittings (120 free, 137 other).
• The general congregation had been 160 in the afternoon, 186 in the evening.

List of sources at Bedfordshire Archives: 

• Z1306/115/3/3: View of the High Street looking south east with the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, 1916
• Z1306/115/3/2: View of the High Street looking south east with the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, 1935
• Z50/115/61: Photograph; Stotfold Methodist Church, 1960s
• MB1/BG/3/1425: Wesleyan Methodist Twentieth Century Fund-historical roll listing contributors inc. Stotfold, 1965