Birkenhead is a town on the Wirral Peninsula, in the historic county of Cheshire, and situated on the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the City of Liverpool. The Mersey ferry was started in 1150 to serve Birkenhead Priory. A major nineteenth century industry was an iron works founded in 1824. The company became Cammell Laird shipbuilders in 1829, building both naval and merchant vessels.
Wesleyan Methodists
The foundation stone for the Brunswick chapel which was the first chapel in the town was laid on 24 March 1830 in Price Street. The chapel was enlarged and was re-opened on 6 December 1844 with a continuing celebration on the following days when the preachers included ???, Joseph Beaumont and the Liverpool Congregationalist minister Rev. Dr Thomas Raffles (1788-1863). The foundation stone for a Day and Sunday school in Beckwith Street was laid on Thursday 22 October 1857 by John Farnworth. Around 1900 the Beckwith Street schools were condemned and needed replacing. The foundation stone for new Day and Sunday schools and lecture hall was laid on 24 September 1908 and the premises were opened in 1909. In 1912 the Local Authority decided to use the former Beckwith Street schools for the Anglican Holy Trinity Day Schools. This prompted a debate in the House of Commons on 3 April 1912 on the proposed use of the condemned building. A notable event occurred in the Brunswick chapel when on 17 April 1905 Evan Roberts (1878-1951), the leading evangelist of the 1904-05 Welsh Revival held his final Liverpool Mission Revival Meeting for non-adherents.
Laird Street Wesleyan Chapel
Thomas Hazelhurst, Esq., of Runcorn laid the foundation stone for the Wesleyan chapel, school and chapel keepers house on 1 June 1863 on land in Laird Street in the Dock Cottages area of the north of the town. The land was donated by Mr William Jackson, M. P. for Newcastle-under-Lyme. For several years the congregation had rented an upper room but with the increasing numbers of worshippers they decided to build a chapel. The chapel was opened on 20 April 1864 by the Rev. Luke Tyerman.The chapel was demolished in a bombing raid in 1941.
Hind Street Wesleyan Mission Chapel
In 1864 the Society met in a room in Denbigh Street. Shortly afterwards a wooden chapel was built in Blackpool Street. The Sunday school had around 300 children. The foundation stone for the chapel in Hind Street was laid on Thursday 20 February 1873.
Palm Grove Wesleyan
The Society dates from 1858 when they met in the office of John Newman’s wood yard, Newburn’s Lane. The foundation stone for the new chapel was laid on 8 March 1871 by Mr William Litherland, a glass and china merchant in Liverpool. The chapel seating 700 people was opened on 19 October 1871.
Grange Road Wesleyan
The Society was formed in 1858 and met in the former Welsh Calvinistic chapel on Camperdown Street. In 1872 a new chapel was built.
Lowe Street Wesleyan Mission Chapel
The iron Mission Chapel to seat 200 in Lowe Street off Conway Street was opened 11 July 1878. The Society started in a cellar in Hope Street until they moved to rooms in Conway Street.
Welsh Wesleyan (Welsh speaking)
A Society was formed in 1838 with Jonn Hussey as the leader. In 1845 a chapel in Wesley Street was built. In 1862 the Conference appointed Rev. Robert T. Owen (1842-1871) as the third minister to the Liverpool Welsh Circuit. He was the first minister to live in Birkenhead. He was succeeded by Rev. John Hugh Evans (d.1886). During the ministry of the resident ministers the Society grew in strength and numbers. The chapel in 1876 became the evangelical 'Christians' Meeting House'. On 30 August 1875 memorial stones were laid by Mr Ellis Davies of Liscard, Wallasey, who had been present when the foundation stone was laid for the chapel in Wesley Street, and Mr Richard Jones of Henfache, Llanrhaidr, who laid a stone in memory of Rev. Robert T. Owen. Captain Williams of Van Mines, Llanidloes, and Mr John Davies of Birkenhead also laid foundation stones. On 2 January 1876 an amphitheatre style chapel seating 500 was opened.
Wesleyan Methodist Association
In the 1840s the congregation worshipped in the Birkenhead Town Hall. When it was announced that the building was to be demolished the Society leaders were spurred into raising money for a chapel. On 13 April 1846 Richard Sharpe, Esq., laid the foundation stone on a site in Grance Road for a chapel with a school room below. The chapel was opened on Sunday 15 November 1846.
Primitive Methodists
There were two chapels in Birkenhead. The first Society was formed in the 1840s and met in a smithy with an earthen floor in Beckwith Street. Around 1850 they built a chapel. The chapel was replaced by a new chapel in 1880. The second Society was founded 1854 and met in the Friends' Meeting House in Hemingford Street. In 1858 they acquired the Welsh Calvinist chapel in Camperdown Street. In 1862 Camperdown Street chapel became the head of the newly formed Primitive Methodist Birkenhead circuit. This chapel was replaced by a new building in Grange Lane, later renamed Grange Road. On Monday 12 July 1869 the Memorial stone laid by Samuel Stitt (1816-1898), a ship owner of The Grange, Claughton. The chapel was opened on Thursday 17 March 1870 when the Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown (1823-1886), a celebrated Liverpool Baptist minister, was the preacher. On 31 March 1905 the Evan Roberts Liverpool Mission Revival meeting was held in the chapel.
United Methodist Free Church
The Society met in a small iron structure in the 1870s which was replaced by a brick chapel. The foundation stone was laid by Arthur J. Williams of London, former Birkenhead Liberal Parliamentary candidate, on 12 October 1880 on land in Claughton Road. The chapel was opened on Thursday 30 June 1881 when the preacher was the Rev. Marmaduke Miller (1827-1889). The chapel seated 550, with a school room below for 450 children.
Entry written by: DHR
Category: Place
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