NONCONFORMITY.
A Wesleyan Methodist
society associated with John Fletcher, the
Evangelical vicar of Madeley, apparently met at
Trench in 1765. (fn. 49) Wesleyans were meeting at the
Nabb in 1813, and by 1815 there was a chapel
there. (fn. 50) On Census Sunday 1851 afternoon service
was attended by 130 adults, evening service by
70; afternoon attendance was said to average
180. (fn. 51) In 1863 the Wesleyans moved to St.
George's and the Nabb chapel closed. (fn. 52)
In 1824 St. John's Wesleyan chapel, Trench
Road, opened. Society membership grew from 8
in 1821 to 71 in 1824, and more than doubled
between 1826 and 1828 to 134. On Census Sunday 1851 services were attended by 99 adults in
the morning and 333 in the evening, although
there were only 140 free and 146 rented seats.
Attendance was said to average 150 adults and 70
children. (fn. 53) There were 50 adherents in 1910 and
1920, and 80 in 1930. (fn. 54) In 1948 membership was
small and the chapel closed, being replaced by the
Methodist church hall, New Donnington. (fn. 55)
The first Primitive Methodist society in the
county was established at Oakengates in 1821. In
1823 it became a circuit centre and the first circuit
chapel was built at the Moss next to the inclined
plane. It replaced Oakengates in 1828 as the
circuit centre. (fn. 56) On Census Sunday 1851 there
were 405 adult worshippers in the afternoon and
303 in the evening, apparently average numbers.
The chapel had 500 seats, 300 of them free. (fn. 57) In
1864 it was rebuilt in diapered red and blue brick
to seat 700, and in 1869 there were said to be 204
society members and a congregation of 550. A
schoolroom was built next to the chapel in 1879. (fn. 58)
In 1904 the congregation split when W. H.
Stones, a leading church member and a circuit
steward, supported Dr. J. McC. McCarthy, a
Conservative candidate in the county council
elections, contrary to connexional policy over the
1902 Education Act. Reprimanded by the circuit,
Stones resigned office and later defied the circuit
by accepting the trustees' invitation to preach in
the chapel. A scuffle involving the minister ensued, and the dispute caused Stones and his
followers to establish the Wrockwardine Wood
Central Hall in Donnington Wood. (fn. 59) Between
1903 and 1905 the congregation of Wrockwardine
Wood chapel fell from 550 to 400, and membership from c. 100 to 83. (fn. 60) There were said to be
250 adherents in 1910 and 1920, 150 in 1930. (fn. 61) A
burial ground opened in 1927. (fn. 62) The chapel had
51 members in 1982. (fn. 63)
A Primitive Methodist chapel at the Nabb
known as the Rough (fn. 64) was demolished in 1864 and
rebuilt in stone in 1869 to seat 170; 100 attended
the principal services in 1871. (fn. 65) Numbers soon
fell, to 40 in 1875 and 20 in 1890. Although they
recovered between 1900 and 1910, there were
only 20 adherents in 1926 when the chapel was
last listed. (fn. 66) It was demolished in 1930. (fn. 67)
The Primitive Methodist Jubilee chapel, built
of red brick in 1860 on the north side of Church
Street, St. George's, seated 400; half the seats
were free. The principal services were attended
by 250 in 1869, a number that remained fairly
constant until 1900. By 1920 there were only 150
adherents. In 1867 a 'double decker' schoolroom
was added and in 1886 a Sunday school. (fn. 68) The
chapel and schoolroom were sold in 1965, having
been replaced by a new chapel on the opposite
side of the road. (fn. 69)
Bethesda chapel, Trench, on the corner of
Trench and Church roads, was built in 1866 in
diapered red and blue brick. It seated 200, half
the seats being free; 150 attended the main services in 1875, but only 60-70 between 1880 and
1890. (fn. 70) Attendance averaged 20 in 1982. (fn. 71)
In 1870 a brick mission in Lincoln Road
opened, reputedly for poor people reluctant to
attend the main Primitive chapel at the Moss. It
had c. 150 free seats; 50 people attended the
principal services in 1871, 125 in 1880. Between
1900 and 1920 there were 60-70 adherents, and
100 in 1930. (fn. 72) It was de-registered in 1954. (fn. 73)
Primitive Methodists also met in 1861 at a house
in Bunter's Row, south of the Shrewsbury Canal
on the western boundary of the township. (fn. 74)
The Wesleyan Reformers' Ebenezer chapel,
New Street, was built in 1855. It seated 230. It
closed in 1963 and was sold in 1965. (fn. 75) The New
Connexion met at Glasshouse Row in 1845. (fn. 76)
By 1923 the Brethren had moved from Oakengates to a Gospel Hall in West Street, which they
still used in 1983. (fn. 77) Jehovah's Witnesses had a
Kingdom Hall in Plough Road from 1967. (fn. 78)