The credit for introducing Methodism intoTamworth goes to Samuel Watton, a nailer whose father had come from Upper Gornal near Dudley around 1715. In 1771 he and his wife began welcoming the Methodist preachers ino their home on the site of the later Golden Cup Inn. With the growing numbers of those attending, private houses gave way to larger premises made available in Bowbridge (later Bolebridge) Street by a calico printer named Edward Burford, By 1794 they had progressed so far as to build their first chapel on a site given to them by Sir Robert Peel, who had met John Wesley and breakfasted with him on one occasion at least. Application was made on 15 July 1794 for the chapel to be registered as a place of worship. By 1816 it was demolished and replaced by a larger one on the site. Samuel Watton Junior lived up to his parents' example and continued their active support of the Methodist church. Another leading personality later in the century was Thomas Argyle, who arrived in Tamworth in 1835 at the age of 20 to become the managing clerk of a local solicitor and from 1859 a solicitor in his own right. He was town clerk from 1861 to 1867 and played major part when the time came for a new and larger chapel, known as the Wesleyan Temple to be opened in 1878 in Victoria Road. This became the head of a new 'Tamworth and Lichfield Circuit' in 1886. Bolebridge chapel continued for some years to be used for midweek services and the Sunday School, but was eventually sold in 1898.

Prominent among Wesleyans who contributed to the public life of the town was Councillor Frederick Allton, who became its first Methodist mayor in 1913 and was given the town's first honorary freedom in 1951.

The controversial expulsion of James Everett and two other itinerant preachers by the Wesleyan Conference of 1849 led to growing opposition to the Conference during the 1850s and considerable loss of members to the Reforming camp. In Tamworth Thomas and Samuel Watton and Joseph Sadler were leading members expelled from the Bolebridge Street society to join the Reformers. A small preaching place in Aldergate, appropriately known as 'The Hut', was made available to them by Isaac Bradbury and eventually bought from him in 1875. (By then Thomas Watton had died in 1873 and Joseph Sadler in1874.) Eventually, in 1885 a site for a new church was bought in Aldergate from the Wesleyan William Tempest. It was opened on 29 September 1886, complete with a fleche spire which survived as part of its gothic facade until 1957. The United Methodist Free Churches were among the Methodist denominations which eventually came together to form the United Methodist Church in 1907.

The earliest evidence for Primitive Methodist activity in the town is in a report in the Tamworth Herald of 8 April 1893 that they were holding services in an 'old chapel' in Lichfield Street - perhaps a former Quaker meeting house. Whatever the location, they appear to have ceased by 1909.

In 1932 Methodist Union brought together Wesleyans and United Methodists and the first meeting of the new Tamworth Circuit was held on 20 September 1933, comprising 22 churches (including Lichfield until 1946) and a total of 945 members. The event was celebrated in Tamworth by a service at which the preacher was Moses Bourne, Vice-President of the Conference. The congregations at Victoria Road and Aldergate remained separate until in 1972, when problems with the roof at Victoria Road compelled the decision to unite them at Aldergate. The Victoria Road premises were eventually sold, and during the closing years of the century extensive refurbishment at Aldergate, (renamed 'Central') was undertaken, including a mezzanine floor and a new worship area.

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