| Welcome to the Primitive Methodist Church West Bank | |||||||||||||
 The first Primitive Methodist
Chapel. With industry growing throughout the 1860s, more and
more men, women and children descended on the small village of Cwmtillery.
Settling down all those years ago, everything in the village was in its
beginning. Christianity, for those that chose to worship, was practised in the
privacy of their own homes. As the village grew, small groups of people would
join together, and soon they rented a room where they could all meet for praise
and prayer. Their numbers increased and so did their joy of seeing the work of
the Lord prosper. But just at the time when things seemed settled, they had to
leave their rented rooms and resort to alternative accommodation. Difficult as
it was, the groups continued to grow, but with accommodation high on the
agenda, it was decided to build a "House unto the Lord". Thus in 1872 the first
Primitive Methodist Chapel was erected on the west side of the village, towards
the top end of West Bank. It would accommodate about 120 people. At this time
it was a pleasant spot for such a building, which stood almost at the foot of
the mountain, with woods at the northern side and everything around it
contributing towards making it picturesque. With its front towards the East,
the morning sun's rays would burst through the coloured glass windows. |
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 Work to enlarged the Primitive
Methodist Chapel. Over the next 15 years the supporting congregation grew rapidly and this quaint chapel soon became too small to support them. By 1887 plans had been made and the chapel was enlarged. The new building was more up-to-date and it had been extended by its width, length and height with the front now facing south. It had a gallery at one end, small school room and the seating capacity had been doubled to 250 persons. |
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Extension to the Primitive Methodist Chapel.How
fast the congregation must have grown. Within a few years yet another problem
faced the Trustees, as the school accommodation within the chapel became
inadequate. It was obvious that a new, larger school room must be built, but
how and where? There was already a debt on the chapel of over £250, and
estimates already received showed costing of a further £500 for a new
school. After looking at a few alternatives, the
Trustees agreed with a local builder's help, that a new school could be built
on the side of the chapel and at half the cost. This extension did not come
without difficulties, which came thick and fast. In 1893, and with little
resources, work proceeded as far as money allowed It would never be finished,
but it was usable and would be left in the hope that some day it might be
completed. It was used for services and school classes, it had little heating,
despite a few local attempts to construct some kind of heating apparatus. These
local attempts on the upkeep carried on for years, and then in 1905 it was
noticed that the chapel and school were beginning to break away from each
other. The cause soon became apparent as the effect of this subsidence grew.
With both buildings splitting further and further apart, it became all too
clear it would be impossible to repair. Rain quickly found it's way through the
roof and the building movement affected the gas lights. Yet through all this
the attendance at services was maintained to the very last. However the
building soon got too dangerous to sit in and by November 1910 the last service
had been conducted. |
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 A new location, a new Primitive
Methodist Chapel. With no usable chapel and a debt of
£250, it was decided to approach the Directors of Lancaster Steam Coal
Co, which was the colliery nearest the chapel. This was done and to the delight
of all they promised a gift of £250, and a new building site for the
chapel. They also allowed use of any reusable materials in the old building. A
new trust containing twenty people was formed and meetings held to discuss the
kind of chapel required to suit the needs, ways of raising the extra money
required and how to proceed. Different building plans were presented and
discussed. The first was a building with two levels, school below and chapel
above. The second was a double building, built on the same line as the previous
chapel, with the third being a huge school-chapel with a large centre room and
classroom on each side. All came with a price tag of between £1,200 to
£1,500, but what about the old chapel? It was decided to try and raise
some of the monies required by stripping and selling as much as possible from
the old Chapel/School room. The work started in January 1911 and, shortly
after, the sale began. Purchasers were plentiful, timber was sold as fast as it
could be prepared. After a few weeks, the new fund realised £40 and was
still growing. The work carried on for most of the year until all the saleable
materials had been sold and the stone cleaned and ready for use in the proposed
new chapel. As the months went by and the Trustees had meeting after meeting,
trying to overcome the never-ending obstacles, the village voices would cry out
"When are we going to have a new chapel?" and "When are you going to start to
build?". What was wanted to move things along came in the form of the new
Minister, who arrived in July 1912. With this new driving force, trustees
meetings moved forward at a rapid pace and letters were written to prospective
Fund sources. Within a few weeks replies were received with delight, and proved
a source of encouragement to all interested in the work. Fund raising also took
on other forms, Ladies Bible Class, Young Men's Bible Class, Sunday school,
Ladies Sewing Class, Children with their pennies and Toffee-selling, all
helping build up the necessary funding required.. In February 1913, with all
problems solved, and a
 willing team of builders, work
finally started. A Stone-laying ceremony was fixed for the 19th May with two
stones laid, one stone was laid on behalf of the Central church and one laid by
the Cwmtillery church. The work continued for 8 months and with a total cost of
£1,400, the new chapel was completed. It was to exceed all expectations.
On Wednesday October 29th 1913, after a short speech, Mrs W.V.Hobkirk opened
the doors and Rev F.P.Pearce was the preacher for the day. The building had a
kitchen on the ground floor, a schoolroom above and finally the chapel and
minister's vestry above the school. |
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 Band of Hope.
were followers which had pledged not only to abstain from
drinking liquor, (which was deemed to be the demon drink) but to also
discourage other as well. These people were also issued with a Band of Hope
Certificate (left) showing this pledge.This one was issued to Mr James Moore in January 13th 1896, (for larger and more detailed image click here  Primitive Methodist Centenary first Camp Meeting 1807-1907, first class formed 1810, belived to be a country wide camp. This one was issued at Cwmtillery as the signature was that of Mr James Moore in May 1910, (for larger and more detailed image click here). |
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The source of fund raising.
The rest was raised through a loan, and within 6 months of the Chapel opening its doors the loan had been repaid. The fund were raised by funds collected at church collections |
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