Southwark, Newington Butts Primitive Christian Chapel
But hereby hangs a story
There was an early Primitive Methodist Society at Newington Butts, evidenced by the baptismal records that are held at the National Archives.
- Ref. RG 4/4527: Newington Butts, House of God, London, Primitive Methodists Baptisms 1806/7-1837, !.
Ed’s note: This page originally read as above. However, for more of the story, read the comments below, starting from the bottom.
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Update. Off to UK May 2024. I’ve since found a drawing of the original Elephant and Castle pub and the House of God next to it. Unrelated to Methodists but instead related to Elias Carpenter and Joanna Southcott. Maps suggest both the pub and the House of God are now roads!
Jill is correct. I picked this up some time ago and had the National Archives correct their catalogue. It’s now under Primitive Christian.
Elias Carpenter was a paper maker at Neckinger / Newington Butts. Short story is he probably owned a paper mill there. (Associated with Koops.) Ended up buying the warehouse next door to the Elephant & Castle Pub and converting it into the House of God. There is a cartoon of it in the British Museum. As Jill says, way before the establishment of the Primitive Methodists.
Looks like an ancestor of mine – Elias Carpenter – was a Minister at this Church and performed baptisms from at least 1806 to at least 1818. Source – baptism records for the children of his daughter Sinai Catherine Winter and her husband William Leyton Winter.
Bit more info. Looks like Elias Carpenter was following the charlatan, Joanna Southcott, for a few years!
Ancestry wrongly names the Baptism Register of this chapel as Primitive Methodist. If you look at the beginning of the register, it clearly says that this was a ‘Primitive Christian’ Chapel, called The House of God, which was founded about 1804, and dissolved in 1840. The name ‘Primitive Methodist’ was not adopted until 1812, and reached London considerably later than this. I have checked the records and Elias Carpenter was not a Methodist minister of any sort. I haven’t been able to find anything about the ‘Primitive Christian’ sect in Newington Butts at this time, but it sounds as if there is a fascinating story to be told!
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