The inside of Tan Bank Primitive Methodist Chapel is seen here as it was between 1898, when the Chapel was built, and early 1914. In 1914 an organ was installed at the far end of the Chapel where the three windows are placed. Two were moved too the angled walls, the third disappeared.
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Page 396 of the same edition of the Primitive Methodist magazine tells us that the church had previously bought a plot for a new chapel – but had now sold it becuase they had the offer of a much better one.
The 1897 Primitive Methodist magazine (page 155) notes that “a very eligible site has been secured in Wellington where better accommodation for church and Sunday school is very much needed, and the friends are working diligently in raising the necessary funds.”
It would be good to add a picture of the key and any other detail to this page, Stephen.
I think I have a ceremonial key presented at the opening in October 1898 to Mrs Thomas ( whom I think was the Matron at the Union Workhouse in Wellington). Happy to provide further details if interested
At the end of the century the Primitive Methodist society, led by the Rev. William Hall and the Trust Secretary Albert Jones, decided to expand and build new premises.
Though with only 59 members in 1896, they bought land close by on the corner of Tan Bank and Jarratts Lane for £460. They then went on to build first a new Church and then a new school alongside. The Church, costing £2,000, of fine red brick, was opened in 1898, and the school in 1906, both designed by Elijah Jones of Hanley. It replaced a 1835 predecessor which stood nearby. It was designed in a Gothic style and built out of terracotta brick. It later became home to the Wellington Methodist Youth club until 1978 when it became a Muslim Mosque.
A brass plaque commemorating 6 fallen men connected to the Church and Sunday School was unveiled in the vestibule by Dr. George Hollies on 25th September 1921. The memorial also bared the names of a further 48 members of the congregation who served in the Great War between 1914 and 1919. On 1st December 1918, a separate memorial to Surgeon Probationer Maurice Danks Cadman (who is also listed on the 1921 plaque) was unveiled by Reverend Tom Butterick. Maurice was the third of eight children born to Thomas and Betsy Cadman of Alexandra Road. The family were related to Reverend Samuel Parkes Cadman, the American radio star, and also preached at the church during his regular trips back to England during the conflict. Maurice was killed at sea in 1918 while serving with the RNVR and his body was never recovered.
Another picture of this chapel can be viewed by following the link to Shropshire’s Nonconformist Chapels
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