"Beginnings of Methodism in Relation to Keyworth"
March 2003 Meeting Report
Guest Speaker - John Atkins
The March 2003 meeting of the Keyworth & District Local History Society was held in the Centenary Lounge, Keyworth on 7th March. Prior to the talk on early Methodism in Keyworth the business of the Annual General Meeting was conducted. Subsequent to the satisfactory conclusion of all the relevant business the meeting progressed with the talk by John Atkins. John Atkins is a member of the Society and has a wealth of knowledge relating to the Methodist Church in Keyworth.
Last year the Methodist Church on Selby Lane put on an exhibition illustrating its history and the talk was an offshoot from that. John & Charles Wesley, we were informed, were a pair of Anglican Priests who travelled the countryside giving impromptu services. They became the founders of a new offshoot of the Anglican religion based on personal devotion and doing good works. Basically they were evangelists and the creed that they preached was evangelism. At the time that the Wesleys were preaching their radical new religion there was a pan –European movement that was preaching the same creed, the movement was by no means an English phenomenon.
The Wesleys were an exceptionally gift pair, between them they were excellent organizers with a rare gift for preaching and song writing. The brothers, whilst advocating a different form of Anglicism never intended that their views and beliefs would be the basis for a completely new religion. It is an oddity that whilst they founded Methodism they were never actually Methodists. Both of the brothers dying in the Anglican faith. The Church of England, never one to embrace what it saw as a threat to its established position was vehemently opposed to the new religion. However, by the end of the 18th Century the Methodist church sufficiently established to be considered as a new denomination. The word Methodist is in itself a derogatory term, based on the fact that the Methodists were very methodical in their lives and this methodical vein wove its way into their religious life.
However, as the 19th Century progressed there was a schism within the Methodist Church. The church began to break up within itself. The reason for this was largely due to the actions of John Wesley. Whilst he had many rare gifts he also had some shortcomings. Principal amongst these was that he was very autocratic. He would not brook views different to his own and was insensitive to the views of those members of the Church, which did not correspond with his own. A sizeable proportion of the Methodist Church wanted the Church to be run on more democratic lines and it was these people who broke qway from the main church and formed the Primitive Methodist Church. The word primitive related to their desire to go back to the principles by which the movement was originally founded.
The Methodist movement was a very active church particularly when it came to recruiting new members and maintaining the enthusiasm of its current membership. To this end camp meetings were often organised which situated at some suitable field and lasted for several days. People camped there for the duration of the event and would travel many miles to attend. Guest speakers would be arranged to talk to the visitors, prayers would be offered and food consumed. The whole atmosphere was that of a giant religious picnic.
The Methodist Church had its roots firmly in the working class. Many Methodists were people actively associated with workers rights, Chartism and trades-unionism. Again, the word Prim, (a derivation of Primitive), was used in a derogatory and insulting manner when referring to that branch of the Church. The trade union chapel is a reflection of how the movement was originally formed along the same lines as the Methodist Chapels.
As far as Methodism in Keyworth is concerned the first recorded instance of the religion being preached here occurred in 1804. A further instance is recorded in 1816 when a large meeting was addressed on the Forest in Nottingham. Back in Keyworth William Pike founded the Primitive Methodist Connexion in Keyworth. The Methodists were particularly sensitive as to the spelling of the word “Connexion”. It was never to be spelt “Connection”, that was something completely different. By 1828 the Methodists had built their first chapel in the village at number 12 Elm Close, (the building still stands today). The internal dimensions of the chapel were 9.5 yds by 6.5 yds with a small gallery at the front. The cost of the chapel was £180, the cost being raised by the members themselves. This chapel served until 1881 when the present chapel was built. The original church was used as a Sunday School until 1886 when new, ancillary building were constructed alongside the new church.
Analysis of the Baptismal Register for Keyworth between 1834 and 1881 shows that the occupation of those who were baptised in the Methodist faith were as follows, 97 framework knitters; 63 labourers; and 30 other occupations. Farmers were only recorded twice. It can thus be seen that the Methodists were principally a church of the lower orders. The records for the Independent Church do not give parents occupations but the names of those recorded are also the same names as people in the village who were known to own land. The composition of Keyworth’s religious population during the 19th Century could be divided into three distinct categories. They were as follows: - the professional classes attended the Church of England; the land-owning classes attended the Independent Church, whilst the working classes attended the Methodist Church.
Records for the Methodist Church in 1851 show that it had 60 adult members whilst 64 children attended Sunday School. The membership peaked in 1887 when the Church had 111 members. The membership then fluctuated over the succeeding years as follows; 1891 –73 members; 1912 – 83 members; 1920 – 59 members. This state of affairs lasted until the combined efforts of Wimpey, Costain and Goulding with their expansion of the village helped the membership to swell to around 120 persons.
When the Church was opened in 1881 a time capsule was placed under one of the Foundation Stones. The capsule was discovered in 1981 when renovation work was taking place on the church. Amongst the recognisable artefacts was a list of the church members in 1881.
The Methodist Church, especially in its early years was a great champion of education for its members. To this end it organised reading and writing classes every Thursday. The Church was also a pioneer of Elementary Education in Keyworth and when the Church of England wanted the new school to be a Church school they fought the proposal vigorously. With the help of other interested parties they managed to get the new school established as a Board School. Over the years the Methodist Church has attached great importance to the Sunday School movement and the Church has a very good record of attendance with over 100 members at one time.
The talk finished on a very novel theme when a tape recording was played which gave a very strong flavour of how the hymn singing probably sounded at early Methodist Church services. Overall the talk was very interesting and exceptionally well delivered. What might have seemed to be a rather dry subject actually turned out to be very animated and interesting.