Category: Worship

Primitive Methodist Chapel

Methodism was a non-conformist movement started by the brothers John and Charles Wesley in the mid 18th century.  Although the focus of the Wesleys was on changing the Church of England so that its members really lived their religion, it was eventually forced to secede from the established church.  After the death of the Wesleys , Methodism began to fragment into a number of different movements with small but important differences of doctrine and liturgy.

Primitive Methodism was a significant one of these breakaway movements from about 1810 until 1932.  Primitive simply meant “relating to an original stage”, as Primitive Methodists saw themselves as practising a purer form of Christianity, closer to the earliest Methodists. They were marked by the relatively plain design of their chapels and the lack of ritual in their worship. Their social base was among the poorer members of society, who appreciated its unambiguous content and its direct, spontaneous style).  In 1932, the Primitive Methodists and the Wesleyans merged  with the United Methodists, to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain.

Essex has a long history of non-conformism and, during the second half of the nineteenth century, Primitive Methodist chapels were established in Ashdon, Chrishall, Clavering, Duddenhoe End, Elmdon, Elsenham, Hempstead, Langley, Littlebury, Manuden, Murrell Green, Newport,  Radwinter End, Rickling, Saffron Walden and Stansted.   

Hempstead’s was one of the first to be built, in 1853.  Given that it is now known as the Manse, it may be that the minister also lived there – does anyone have any information about this? 

We don’t yet have any detailed records of which families in the village were ’chapel’ but we do know that Margaret Drane’s father, Frank Marsh, who was the village baker, ran the Sunday School.  And Dorothy Turner, from Springfields, played the organ in the chapel during the period between the Wars.

Primitive Methodist Chapel

The Primitive Methodist Connexion ordered at its 1848 Conference that a Society Roll-Book should be kept. Each preacher had to entering the class members in his roll-book and class-book, distinguishing those on trial from those approved. The roll-books were then presented to the Circuit, Branch or Mission Committee who recorded the contents in their Minute Book. Then everything was further recorded in the General Quarter-day Book.

When a new preacher arrived at his/her station, they took the roll-book relating to the places where they would preach as they went round the circuit. The roll-books were compared to the class-books and if necessary, remarks such as ‘dead’, ‘removed’, ‘left’ or ‘fallen’, etc. were inserted.

In the Saffron Walden circuit, the first roll-books began to be kept in 1850-51: cross-checking against the 1851 census enables a reconstruction of the age, sex, marital status, household, occupation etc of those who joined the chapels.

It becomes clear what a great impact the ‘Prims’ made on villages, for the vast majority of their members were typically agricultural labourers who chose to join. Note that, for every member, there were about three ‘hearers’ who merely attended services but may not have been able to afford becoming a member.

Here are the lists of members of the Hempstead Chapel at the dates shown

HEMPSTEAD PRIMITIVE METHODISTS: 1857-8;1858-9;1860-1:

  • George Andrews
  • Harriet Andrews
  • Jane Andrews
  • Samuel Andrews
  • Aaron Belsham
  • Elijah Brazier
  • Meller Brazier
  • Peter Brazier
  • Elijah Bye
  • Ann Chapman
  • Rebecca Chatters?
  • William Clayden
  • Elizabeth Coot
  • William Coot
  • Abraham Ford
  • Ann Ford
  • Luke Ford
  • Clarissa Hales
  • David Halls
  • John Hills
  • Henry Killingbeck
  • Elizabeth Medcalf
  • Susan Medcalf
  • Elizabeth Mitchell
  • Susan Mitchell
  • Mary Moss
  • Mary Pledger
  • Nehemiah Pledger
  • Nathaniel Plumb
  • Susan Plumb
  • Emma Purkis
  • George Purkis
  • Harriet Purkiss
  • Jeremiah Purkiss
  • Mary Purkiss
  • Sarah Purkis
  • Stephen Purkis
  • Julia Reader
  • Mary Ann Reader
  • William Reader
  • Catherine Ruttland
  • Deborah Ruttland
  • Eliza Ruttland
  • Elizabeth Saville
  • Samuel Saville
  • Hannah Smith
  • Aaron Sorrell
  • John Sorrel
  • Mary Sorrel
  • Susan Sorrel
  • John Stubings
  • Mary Stubings
  • Joseph Surrage
  • Josiah Surrage
  • Mary Surrage
  • John Ward
  • Mary Ward

HEMPSTEAD  PRIMITIVE METHODISTS, 1872-3:

  • Bye, Elijah
  • Brazier, Elijah
  • Buttle, Elijah
  • Clayden, Emily
  • Claydon, Edward
  • Killingrey, Mary
  • Johnson, John
  • Mintlock, Martha
  • Stone, Matilda
  • Ruttland, Ellen
  • Smith, John

(Source: recordinguttlesfordhistory.org.uk )

The fall of the church tower, 1882

Early pictures of the tower suggest that it was first built in the 15th Century. Unfortunately, disaster struck in January 1882, when the tower fell down causing great destruction, not only to the tower and its bells, but also to the nave.

The rubble was cleared and £1,600 was raised by public subscription for repairing the nave ceiling, the chancel arch and the aisles, as well as  bricking up the arch between the nave and tower (1887-8). The architect was Samuel Knight of London. The surviving bells were moved to the churchyard and housed in a wooden cage near the east end of the church.

The Church without its tower

There matters rested until 1933, when the Harveian Society of the Royal Society of Physicians agreed to fund the rebuilding of the tower in memory of William Harvey.  But the work had to stop when it reached nave height, because they were £1,000 short.    

“From his discovery has grown a mighty tree of knowledge, fruitful of blessings to mankind.  His vision, his patient searching penetrated the darkness of centuries of error.  He had to his hand no new aids or method.  From within, or through himself, came the new spirit which found truth and set it forth. 

No darkness can be as great as that of established authority.  Time gives it the appearance, acceptance and sanction of truth. To attack it becomes first and impiety, then an offence.  During the centuries, the influence of Galen had become so paramount as to forbid thought. Thus the lamp delivered by the ancients became extinguished. Harvey unfolded his discovery with convincing directness and restraint. A few pages contained the refutation of nineteen centuries of tradition and error.  Despite ridicule, disparagement and even damage, he implanted the new knowledge with courageous yet courteous insistence.  He preached that Nature must be pursued ‘through assured ways till they reached her in the citadel of truth and in such pursuits it is sweet not merely to toil but to grow weary.’ 

There belongs to Harvey a distinction rare among those great men who are makers of epochs, in that there has come down to us knowledge not only of his discovery but of the man himself – ‘he, being dead, yet speaketh’.  The spirit of his teaching, his inspiration, his sense of friendship, are living forces today within the profession of medicine. It is not only a memorial – for Harvey needs not such, he already belongs to the immortals – it is also the fulfilment of a desire, a piety, to preserve in the minds of men, the association of his life and pilgrimage.”

Lord Dawson of Penn, GCVO KCB KCMG, President of the Royal College of Physicians, at the laying of the foundation stone on 14 July 1933.

During the 1950s, retired Colonel SA Smith of the Royal Engineers moved to Hempstead and grew incensed by the view of the stunted tower from his bedroom window.  He told the vicar that, if the money could be found, he would oversee the completion of the tower to its original height.   One evening, Arthur Dickson-Wright (the President of the Harveian Society and father of TV chef Clarissa) happened to call on the vicar, who told him about Col. Smith’s offer.  Sir Arthur gladly accepted, saying that he had come to say that funds had been set aside for this express purpose.   

The work restarted in 1959.  By then, however, inflation had caused the £1,000 shortfall to grow to £14,000. Some compromises to the design of the windows were needed in order to stay within budget.   By 1962, the work was complete and the bells had also been restored, with the old tenor bell being recast as two new bells. The newpeal of six bells was rung at a dedication ceremony, conducted by the Bishop of Colchester on 3 June.   So many people attended the ceremony that the proceedings had to be broadcast over a loudspeaker to the crowds in the churchyard.

Reproduced by kind permission of British Pathe

The curate, John Escreet, who had warned about the state of the tower three years before it collapsed, played a big part in the restoration: a skilled wood carver, he designed and created a new pulpit, lectern and reading desk, as well as a new porch. This is described further in the section on Incumbents.

Here is a copy of John Escreet’s parish register for the day of the collapse and the immediate aftermath.

Press coverage of the dedication ceremony

Essex Countryside Magazine, March 1961

The order of service