Our church is situated in a village on the Staffordshire/Cheshire border near a place called Mow Cop. If you know anything about the history of the people called 'Methodists' you may know that this area is famous for being the birth place of the 'Primitive Methodist' movement started by two local men: Hugh Bourne and William Clowes. Our first Methodist chapel was  built in the early 1800s just a few hundred yards from the current site. (This site is now part of an industrial area.) In the 1860s, men of great vision decided to build a rather grand Methodist Church in Chapel Street Butt Lane and not surprisingly this was of the Primitive Methodist persuasion. Men would bring bricks by the barrow load from a local brick works and worked hard building the new chapel as well as doing their own full time work. By 1869 the chapel (or should I say the main building) was complete and the chapel was opened.

As you can see this building was rather grand boasting a choir gallery and a large organ with several 'school' rooms below (these were added later), which were not only used for Sunday School, but were used as a day school for some time. (In the good old fashion Methodist tradition of offering education to the poor.) But our church is not a building, but people (and we hope that one day we may be able to recount some of our stories on this web site) and it was not only a place of worship but a place of fellowship for the village.
 

In 1977 a week after the marriage of two of our members, Gordon and Maria Carter (us) - not that the other members blame them in any way - the ceiling in the main chapel began to fall in and it was decided that we would have to have a new building. The new building is much smaller and has been added to the old 'schoolroom', but it is cosy and we have room for a car park. We don't have a day school any more, but there is a very successful 'Mums and Tots' club. The grand old pipe organ has been replaced by an excellent modern electronic organ and although we can no longer boast a choir we sing with enthusiasm and try our best.
 
 

Contacts: -
maria.s.carter@ntlworld.com or
gordon.j.carter@ntlworld.com