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Bethesda United Methodist Church
Bridge Street, Waterfoot
 Bethesda
can claim to be unique in the annals of United
Methodism in so far as the membership came about
because of a split resulting from a decision by
the Wesleyan Conference, who decreed that the
practice of teaching writing in Sunday Schools
was a breach of the Fourth Commandment and that
only religious scriptures should be taught. This
caused heated controversy in the Wesleyan
Society at Newchurch and a majority of the
teachers, scholars and trustees decided that
writing should continue to be taught. Eventually
these dissenters were cut off from the
membership and compelled to found a new church.
Of all the causes which resulted in demands for
reform in Wesleyan Methodism (and there were
many) it is the only time this particular cause
resulted in a separation.
The new society
tenanted three buildings successively as the
membership continued to grow a pace and this
growth lead to the bold if rash decision to
build a large chapel with a seating capacity of
eight hundred seats at Bridge Street, Mill End.
The new structure proved more costly than
anticipated and when the chapel opened in 1878
Bethesda had the unenviable position of having
the largest debt in the Methodist Connexion,
with interest and annual expenditure running at
£400 per year. Five years after its opening the
debt had risen to £6,168. It was not until 1883,
with the appointment of the Rev. J. Twigg Taylor
that the debt started to reduce and it was not
until 1907 that the debt reached the manageable
figure of £350.
By the mid
nineteen fifties the church was again struggling
financially due to high maintenance costs and
the small number attending regularly. The last
service was held on 31st March 1957 and although
the building was used for business purposes for
a few years after the closure it was eventually
demolished in November 1962. |
