Website Designed By
Tan Bank - Primitive Methodist Chapel
Early Foundations
According to the records of the Court of Quarter Sessions, a private house (which also contained a schoolroom) in Tan Bank was licensed for Primitive Methodist worship by 1822, while meetings also took place in Watling Street, at the home of Reuben Owen, a local miner. A chapel was first erected on the corner of Tan Bank and Foundry Road during 1826 and it stood on the opposite side of the road from the building that exists today. A new building replaced this edifice in May 1835, costing just £235 to build and measuring only 27 feet by 21 feet. It is highly likely that the congregation would largely have been a working class one and this is reflected by the chapel's location in Tan Bank. As the former site of a Tannery from which the road takes its name and given the proximity of the town's gasworks, land in the area would have been inexpensive and easy to acquire. However, the relatively small number of worshippers ensured that the members of the congregation were still saddled with a large debt because of the building work.