Tradition tells that the first Methodist preacher who came to Southwold in 1778 was accompanied by a Mr S. Crisp of Wrentham and several others. Ordered to desist by the magistrates from preaching and singing in the open air and marched out of town, the group returned and Mr Crisp was put in the stocks from where he denounced those who were preventing the preaching of the gospel.

The young preacher Richard Reece was stationed in the extensive Norwich Circuit in 1788-89. He wrote in his journal,

Southwold is a new place where we have not yet formed a society. The sea comes close up to the town and surrounds it when there is a spring tide. The inhabitants are heathenish to an exstream [sic] although there are many Calvinist Dissenters among them.

The Calvinist Dissenters were Independents [Congregationalists] and Presbyterians, both of whom had a congregation in the town.

In 1792 a Methodist society at Southwold was listed in the Norwich Circuit book. A class of twelve was led by Elizabeth Voice, school mistress. It consisted of three men, one of whom, Thomas Brown, was a coal seller and another, Philip Child, a sail maker. The occupation of the third was not given. Two of the nine women were mantua makers. The occupations of the others were not noted. The following year, another school mistress was listed whilst Thomas Brown had changed his occupation and was now working at the Customs’ House in the town, an occupation also given for another of the class members. By 1796 Thomas Brown’s occupation had changed again and he was described as a shoe maker.

By 1797 there were fourteen members meeting in class although a much larger number would have been informal attenders at services and swelled the congregation.

Robert Wake, who wrote a history of the town in 1839, stated that a small Wesleyan meeting house was built in 1799 in Mill Lane for about 150 people. The society was incorporated into the Lowestoft Wesleyan Circuit.

In 1806, a Wesleyan, a Mr Tory, began a Sunday school and also a free day school, both of which were conducted in the chapel. However, they failed to thrive and closed down after a few years.

In 1823, a further attempt was made to start a Sunday school, but again it closed after a brief period. A final effort in 1827 was successful and by 1839 it boasted 146 children and 25 officers and teachers.

By the early 1830s, the congregation had become too large for the little chapel and so a larger building was set up on East Green. This could hold 350-400 people. It was opened in July 1835 by the Rev. A.E. Farrar and Rev. George Cubitt, both of London and T. Cutting of Bungay. A school room was added in 1845.

The 1851 Census of Religious Worship recorded a morning attendance at the chapel of 40 adults and 101 Sunday scholars. The afternoon saw 80 people at worship with ten scholars. In the evening, 226 attended the service. The census form was signed by the chapel steward, Thomas Henry Jellicoe who was also a trustee of the building. He lived in the Market Place.

The vicar of the parish church had reported that considerable numbers of people attended services at both church and chapels in the town. No evening services were held in the Anglican church and this may well explain the very large attendance at the Wesleyan evening services. The other nonconformist places of worship showed increased congregations at evening worship.

The Lowestoft circuit often found itself in financial difficulties. Several letters were sent to the Southwold society reminding them that they must fulfill their responsibilities and remit their portion of money to the circuit funds.

Circuit meetings considered the problem of supplying Southwold with preachers when the congregation was at such a distance from Lowestoft.

In November 1860 the Halesworth Times and East Suffolk Advertiser announced the re-opening of the Wesleyan chapel in East Green at Southwold. The old chapel had become too small to accommodate all those who wished to attend services and so it had been resolved to substantially enlarge it in order to seat 350 to 400 people.

A building fund was set up and almost immediately £100 was raised. The building work was quickly completed and a harmonium was installed. The cost of the enlargement was £110.The reporter for the newspaper concluded. ‘A spirit of great zeal pervaded this body and we hear that much good is being done among the fishing portion of the population’.

The re-opening sermons were preached in the afternoon by the Rev. William Limmer of Lowestoft and in the evening by the Rev. Graves of London.

In spite of this hopeful report, severe problems loomed. In September 1867 the circuit committee decided that it would be helpful to engage a Hired Local Preacher who would be based at Southwold. The society offered to raise £16 each year towards his employment. However, arrangements for him to live in the town broke down and so, instead, application was made to the Connexion to provide a Home Missionary. Conference declined this request, much to the disappointment of the Southwold society.

The matter continued to drag on. In 1882-3, a Mr Farr was working as a Lay Agent in Southwold. In the summer of 1883, he was replaced with a Mr J. Howlett who remained for two years. At the same time the circuit Quarterly meeting became increasingly frustrated at the very small amount of money sent from Southwold to the circuit. After meeting the circuit committee, the Chairman of the District then advised the Southwold officials to form a new circuit together with other nearby congregations. This proposal did not materialize.

There was much support for Mr Howlett amongst the Wesleyan congregation and also in the town. Faced with his likely imminent departure, suggestions were made as to how he could remain and continue his work in Southwold. Collections were taken and, with the money, an iron building measuring 48 feet by 24 feet was bought and Mr Howlett became the pastor of the congregation who began to meet there. This entailed a loss of about half the Wesleyan membership.

Services continued in the iron building for several years, but when Mr Howlett finally left the town, the cause there dwindled and finally the Anglicans bought the building, dismantled it and re-built it near the church to be used as a parish room. Numbers at the Wesleyan chapel slowly grew once more and in 1898 the East Suffolk Mission was formed.

The Yoxford Circuit, which now included Southwold, was subsumed into the Mission and a young minister was secured who would live at Southwold. In 1906, Southwold was returned to the Lowestoft Circuit.

A new Wesleyan Sunday school was built in 1902 with room for 200 children. The architect was F.R. Hunter and the builders R.J. Allen and Son of Southwold. The following year substantial alterations were carried out in the chapel with the old pulpit removed and the front of the gallery lowered.

Adult numbers continued to grow and the society started a mission at Reydon and erected a room for worship there.

Adjustment of circuit boundaries in 1906 resulted in the Southwold society, together with Reydon and Wenhaston, all in the East Suffolk Mission, being included in a new circuit called the Lowestoft and Beccles Circuit with Southwold being the resident of an unmarried minister.

A war memorial tablet listing the names of those killed in the 1914-18 war from the town was placed in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. It was made of wood with a carved crown and wreath in a roundel. The names of the 52 men were picked out in gold.

Primitive Methodists came late to East Anglia following a mission from the Nottingham Circuit in 1820.

William Dawson, travelling preacher stationed in Norwich, made dozens of applications to register premises for worship and one of these was for Southwold on 21 October 1823. It was for a house and premises in the town ‘now in the holding and occupation of Thomas Browne’. The licence was granted the same day.

In September 1835 the Quarterly Meeting instructed the travelling preachers to try and purchase the old Wesleyan chapel in the town. It is not clear whether or not they were successful.

The return for the Religious Census in 1851 reports that the congregation was meeting in a chapel which had been opened in 1844 and described this as ‘part of a building’ exclusively used for worship. There were 50 free sittings and 46 rented ones. In the morning 20 people attended worship while 50 were present in the afternoon and 70 in the evening. Of the attenders only fourteen were formal members.

The cause seems to have been a quiet one with very few references in the Lowestoft Quarterly Meeting minutes. At times it came on and off the plan. In 1864 it was agreed that Southwold should be re-missioned and two preachers appointed every Sunday, but a year later it was determined that Southwold should come off the plan as people would not come to the cottage preaching. The few members were advised to join the Primitive Methodist congregations at Wangford or Walberswick.

Southwold Methodist church closed in March 2022.

Entry written by: NV
Category: Place
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