METHODISM IN DOVER - from John Wesley to the present day

 

John Wesley established a society in Dover on his first visit to the town on 28 January 1765. He had been to Canterbury eight years earlier and in 1738 landed at Deal on his return from Georgia where he had been a missionary.

 

The record of his journal for Wednesday, 28 January 1756 reads: "I preached at noon at Dover to a very serious, but small congregation. We afterwards walked to the Castle, on the top of a mountain."

 

Wednesday, 19 September 1759: "I preached at Dover in the new room which is just finished. Here also the hearers increase, some of whom are convinced and others comforted daily."

 

In 1760 Charles Wesley preached in Biggin Street, Dover, and John Wesley came again on 3 December, commenting: "Who would have expected to find here some of the best singers in England?"

 

There were more visits in 1764 and 1765 when he gave a stern rebuke to members of the Dover Society who were still busy as smugglers. Up until this time they had been meeting in a room at the Cooperage in Queen Street, but this was abandoned and the Society had its meeting house in Limekiln Street where two homes had been made into one. In November 1767, John Wesley recorded: "The house would by no means contain the congregation. I have not found so much life here for many years." And in November 1768, despite a storm, "many were obliged to go away after the house was filled".

 

On Wednesday 5 December 1770 he climbed to the top of Shakespeare Cliff "with some difficulty", and he made more visits to Dover in 1771, 1772, 1774 (when there were 34 members in Dover), 1775, 1776, 1782, 1783, 1785, 1787, 1788 and finally in 1789 when he recorded: "At Dover the New House, large as it is, was far too small, so that many could not get in." This New House was in Elizabeth Square, part of Elizabeth Street in the Pier district.

 

In 1806, a Licence was authorised for a preaching place at Buckland. It was not a chapel, but in 1810 a Wesleyan Chapel was built at London Road. This was the first attempt to provide accommodation for religious worship in Dover in the 19^th Century, outside the Church of England.

 

In 1823, Mr. Iggulden built St. John's Chapel for a congregation of Wesleyan Dissentients, in Middle Row, a narrow street near the Viaduct also in the Pier district. This was transferred a few years later to the Independents.

 

The chapel in Elizabeth Square was too small, and in June 1834 the Wesleyans started another building enterprise, a new chapel under the cliff in Snargate Street, next to the Grand Military Shaft. The foundation was laid on 3 June 1834, and it was opened for public worship exactly four months later.

 

Five years later another large chapel was built opposite the one at London Road. It was started in June 1839 and was completed in December of the same year. The cost was £1,839 (the same number as the year), and it was also the first day school in the Buckland area. When it ceased being a church, it was used by the Sea Cadets, became a bingo hall and was then derelict for many years. In 1998 it was bought by a Dover couple who renovated it, opened it for public events and called it King's Hall.

 

In 1850, Mr. Steriker Finnis, who built the first part of the area of Dover known as Tower Hamlets, gave the Wesleyans a site to build a chapel which was opened that year and is still going strong.

 

Primitive Methodism gained a foothold in Dover in 1848 following a visit by the Rev. John Crow from Ramsgate who preached in the open air in the Pier district of the town. In 1849 services started - appropriately - in a carpenter's workshop in Limekiln Street. There was temporary accommodation in the Charlton area - a cowshed loft in Brook Street - and as early as 1851 preparations began to build a chapel in Peter Street. They had also met in a cottage in nearby Paul's Place.

 

The Primitive Methodists' first regular chapel was built in Peter Street (pictured left) in 1860, at at a cost of £1,100, and it was one of their Jubilee Chapels.

 

In 1874, the Rev. Thomas Russell laid the foundation stone of a chapel in Round Tower Street, near the spot where they had their first preaching place in Dover. But when the Dover and Deal railway line was constructed in 1879, the chapel was bought by the railway company and demolished. Those who had been displaced by the demolition used the Wellington Hall in Snargate Street until compensation money was made available to build a church in Belgrave Road, off Folkestone Road. The foundation stone was laid in 1882. There is also reference on one map to a Primitive Methodist Chapel in Strond Lane in 1858.

 

The Rev. Russell had a Primitive Methodist Chapel built next to his home at Maxton, on the outskirts of Dover, called the Maxton Tabernacle.

 

But a larger, more central chapel was needed, and in 1898 it was decided to buy land at the corner of London Road and Beaconsfield Road. The London Road church was built by the Primitive Methodists in 1901,and opened for worship on New Year's Day 1902. At the time, it was described as: "61 feet by 37 feet inside, at the front end there is a gallery and behind the rostrum, an orchestra having three gothic arch openings supported by two pillars. The entire seating accommodation is about 400. On the remainder of the land are four rooms on the ground floor and covering these will be a large assembly room and two class rooms. It is proposed to heat the building byt the hot water system and to light them by electricity." The total cost, including the land, was £5,200. The sale of the Peter Street Chapel raised £450 towards it.

 

The Wesleyans, meanwhile, had been looking for a more central site than their Snargate Street and Buckland premises. They bought part of the site of the old Priory and built Wesley Hall, which was opened in November 1910. Seven years later it was bombed in an air raid and badly damaged. There were some lucky escapes, but fortunately no casualties. The roof must have felt the full force of the blast as it slid down on both sides. It was re-built in 1920 and served its members well. On 2 October 1941, there were several bombing raids on Dover and the church was one of the buildings damaged. By 1949 it had been restored and the church continued its good work. The church has now closed, it is used by Dover College and has been re-named Menzies Hall.

 

Back to London Road and in 1928 the building was enlarged to provide schoolrooms. War damage led to the demolition of part of it - nearest London Road - leaving a church that could seat about 350. For many years, the Sunday School met in the premises a little further up London Road until 1961 when the church hall and rooms in Bartholomew Street were opened, linking up with the London Road church.

 

In 2003, London Road and Tower Hamlets Methodist churches joined with St Columba United Reformed Church to form The Beacon Church and Christian Centre (Methodist/United Reformed) on the London Road site. In 2016 the old London Road Methodist Church building was sold, and the church hall was converted into a church where the services are now held. The hall stage was lowered to form a new sanctuary area, and the stained glass windows from the old church have been installed.

 

The Dover circuit has changed shape several times over the years, In 1822, for example, it included Elham, Hythe, Sandgate, Dymchurch, Alkham and Lyminge. By 1855 it had extended to include Barham, Stelling, Wootton and Lydden. The circuit has now changed shape again and we are now part of the Canterbury and East Kent circuit which also takes in Thanet.

 

Snargate Street, Belgrave Road and Wesley churches have all since closed. The Dover and Deal Circuit then consisted of the Beacon, (Methodist /United Reformed) in Dover, River (just outside Dover), Trinity at Deal (Methodist/United Reformed), and a joint working arrangement with the Church of England at Shepherdswell, a village some six miles outside Dover. We also support the Cross-Links ecumenical project on Buckland Estate in Dover.

 

Now the Beacon is part of the Canterbury and East Kent Circuit, which also includes Thanet, as well as being part of the Southern Synod of the United Reformed Church.