Salford stands on the western bank of the river Irwell which separates it from the city of Manchester.

On Friday 17 March 1738 John Wesley visited the perpetual curate of Sacred Trinity, Salford, the Rev. John Clayton (1709-1773) who was associated with the Holy Club. On Sunday 19 March 1738 Wesley, accompanied by Rev. Charles Kinchin (c.1711 – 1742), preached and administered Holy Communion at Sacred Trinity. When Wesley returned on 7 May 1747 he was refused permission to preach at Sacred Trinity Church, probably because after Charles and John’s evangelical conversions John Clayton’s friendship with the Wesley brothers cooled. John Wesley walked to the Salford Cross where he preached to a large crowd until he was threatened with a dowsing by the hose of a fire engine. Wesley and the crowd retreated into a nearby yard where he completed his sermon undisturbed.

Wesleyan Methodists

Gravel Lane: In 1787 the Manchester Methodists saw the necessity to build a chapel in Salford. Land was purchased in 1790 in Gravel Lane. The chapel was opened on 7 July 1791 when the preacher at the morning service was Rev. Dr. Thomas Coke (1747-1814). In the afternoon the Rev. Samuel Bradburn (1751-1816) preached and celebrated Holy Communion. They started a Sunday school in the basement which gave the children of poor families free religious and elementary education provided they went to worship. In 1861 the trustees built school further along Gravel Lane. The chapel was twice enlarged. In 1881 the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company needed the site of the church to build a viaduct to give rail access to Manchester Exchange and Victoria stations. The company paid the chapel trustees £10.000. The trustees then purchased land a few yards away on the corner of Blackfriars Street and Viaduct Street where they built the replacement chapel retaining its original name. Gravel Lane Methodist Church closed in 1968.

Irwell Street: It soon became necessary to build a second and larger chapel which led to the building of Irwell Street chapel. The foundation stone was laid in the summer of 1825 by Rev. Robert Newton (1780-1854), the superintendent of the Manchester (Irwell Street) circuit. The chapel was opened on Friday 13 October 1826, when the preacher was Rev. Richard Watson (1781-1833), the President of the Conference.

Broughton, Alexandra Street: By the 1840s there was a growing need to have a chapel in the Broughton area of Salford. The officers approached the Rev. John Clowes (1776-1846), an orchidophile, who owned most of the Broughton area of Salford, asking if he would sell some of his land for a chapel. He refused their request. Around the same time James Garstang had been entertaining at Knolls House the Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman (1809-1890) a Wesleyan Missionary in Africa and an expert on African orchids. Freeman had given Garstang some rare African orchid seeds. When Garstang overheard that the Rev. John Clowes had refused to sell land to the Wesleyans he gave him some of the rare African orchid seeds. Shortly afterwards the reluctant clergyman agreed to sell the land to the trustees and gave £50 towards the building fund. The foundation stone was laid 1841 and chapel was opened on 30 September 1842.

The Manchester and Salford Wesleyan Methodist Mission was started in 1886. The vision of the mission was to help anyone in Salford and Manchester who required aid and to try to give these people a better quality of life.

Primitive Methodists

The Primitive Methodists opened a chapel in King Street in 1843 but because the Salford Corporation was redeveloping the area they had to abandon their chapel in 1874. They then replaced it with a new chapel in Garden Lane. The chapel was opened 22 February 1874

United Methodist Free Church

The UMFC built a chapel/school in Collier Street, in 1842. On 14 May 1864 the foundation stone of the Salford United Free Church in Liverpool Street was laid by Mr Timothy Boddington (1817-1885), a corn merchant in Pendleton and a leading member of the Eccles United Methodist Free Church.

Independent Methodists

On the 1932 Manchester preachers' plan there are two chapels, one in North Street and the other in Chapel Street. Later other chapels were opened in Pendleton.

Bible Christians

Christ Church Bible Christian chapel, King Street, was established in 1800 by Rev. William Cowherd (1763-1816), an Anglican, around fifteen years before the Methodist Bible Christians began their mission. It was a breakaway from the Swedenborgians and its members had to sign a pledge to be vegetarians.

Entry written by: DHR
Category: Place
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