Day 12 - Day @ The Library

John Rylands Library

Good job it was wet and miserable day as Anne decided we needed to spend the morning at Manchester Central Library and the afternoon at the John Rylands library - home of the Methodist archives doing more family history research. At the Central Library we discovered that some of the information we required had just been put online, the rest we have booked to look at on Wednesday once they have located them in their archives. Anne also joined the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society.

We are now also registered  "Readers" for the John Rylands library - I suspect this means we will be back!! 

One of the interesting documents we poured over was the minutes of the Wesleyan Reformed Society and the United Free Methodists conferences, all written by hand in best copperplate.

The John Rylands library is well worth a visit as it has various displays and a fantastic reading room.

We made our way back to the car to discover we had run up a £16 parking fee. Tomorrow we continue in the footsteps of Anne's forebears, let hope the parking is cheaper!!

Methodist preaching in Manchester started in 1742. The first Methodist society was formed in 1747 and met in a succession of rented rooms and then in a former Baptist chapel off Withy Grove. The first proper Methodist chapel was opened in 1751 in Birchin Lane off Church Street.

Manchester Methodism went through a period of rapid growth. In 1765 Manchester joined London, Bristol and Leeds as a 'conference town', a town where the annual Methodist conference, the most senior body of the Methodist church, could be held. A bigger chapel was needed and this was built in Oldham Street and opened by John Wesley in 1781. At the time Wesley was said to have been concerned that the new chapel was too far out in the country. Many Wesleyan chapels were opened: Gravel Lane in Salford 1791, Great Bridgewater Street in Manchester 1801, Grosvenor Street in Chorlton-upon-Medlock 1820, Irwell Street in Salford 1826, Oxford Road in Chorlton-upon-Medlock also in 1826. These were the senior chapels in Manchester and in time they came to head their own circuits. Many more chapels were built during the 19th century. The Oldham St Chapel was replaced with a bigger building in 1886 and Manchester Central Hall came into being. It was rebuilt after being bombed in the 2nd WW.

Central Hall became the headquarters for the Manchester and Salford Methodist Mission, which became a highly successful centre for evangelical work. Central Hall could not accommodate all those wanting to attend the Sunday services, so the mission started holding services in the Free Trade Hall - resulting in some of the largest Methodist congregations ever. These services continued until 1910, when they were moved to the newly built Albert Mission Hall in Peter Street. Today Central Hall is also known as Central Buildings, Manchester and apart from the worshiping (mission) community is the home of TMCP (Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes).

The first Primitive Methodists arrived in Manchester in 1819 and had a good following by 1820. The first Primitive Methodist chapel was opened in 1823 in Jersey Street, Ancoats.

More about Wesley and Methodism in Manchester on Wednesday.