Knutsford, Cheshire

Knutsford is a market town in Cheshire some 14 miles southwest of Manchester.

Travelling south from Manchester on 20 March 1738 John Wesley briefly stopped and preached in Knutsford from the steps near the George Hotel. The occasion is commemorated with a plaque. Wesley visited again on 21 March 1775 and 14 July 1787.

Until 1796 the Wesleyan society met in the home of Peter Dean. A chapel was opened in that year in the Market Place and a school room was added in 1813. A new chapel was built in Princes Street in 1864-65; the foundation stone was laid by the Wesleyan philanthropist Thomas Hazlehurst (1816-76) on 25 May 1864 and the chapel was opened on 11 May 1865.

Primitive Methodist. In 1805 Eleazar Harthern (c.1785 – c. 1850), "the wooden legged preacher” who lost his leg in military service was converted whilst hearing Lorenzo Dow preach in Knutsford. A chapel was opened in 1836 in Cross Town, Knutsford In the 1851 Religious Census the Knutsford PM attendance was recorded as 22 in the afternoon and 52 in the evening.

Sources
  • H.B. Kendall, The Origin and History of The Primitive Methodist Church (London: Edwin Dalton, n.d.) pages 64, 81, 145, 539, 543.
  • 'New Wesleyan Chapel, Knutsford. Laying the Foundation Stones', Northwich Guardian, 28 May 1864, page 5.
  • 'New Wesleyan Chapel, Knutsford', Northwich Guardian, 13 May 1865, page 5.
  • 'Wesley's Visits to Knutsford', Proceedings of the WHS, vol. 21, pages 8-9.

Entry written by: DHR
Category: Place
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