[Part 5 of Mrs Chapman's "Story of Manx Methodism"]

Primitive Methodism in Douglas

Stretching out from Castletown the early P.M, preachers reached Douglas via Santon, and. the first chapel built, en route, was Quine's Hill, in 1823, described as 'rough place with a mud floor and no means of lighting or heating' The present chapel was built in 1890 on land. given by the Road Commissioners through the influence of Mr. Quine.

The Newtown first chapel was built the same year, and wherever the preachers stopped for a rest or a meal societies sprung up.

In Douglas Butcher preached in the Market Place, and. later on the very site of the Loch Parade Chapel. The first P.M Chapel was in Wellington Street, and it cost £935, opening with a debt of only £350, an amazing sum to be raised so quickly from a poorly paid congregation. The plan for the period shows there was Manx preaching on Saturday evening, and on Sundays at 8 a.m. with English sermons at 11 and 6. Wellington Street, formerly Factory Lane, became too small, and there was talk of either extensions or the building of another chapel higher up the town. In 1842 they enlarged the chapel, and built Bourne Hall in Drumgold Street (the hall named after the founder Primitive Methodism) for Youth work and week night meetings.

Although it must have strained them to keep abreast in Douglas they did not neglect the outlying districts. Laxey was missioned in 1824, and the first chapel, costing .£112, was opened in less than a year. This was replaced by the Minorca Chapel in 1890 costing £825.
The strength of Primitive Methodism in Laxey was strengthened by Cumberland miners who had arrived to work in the mines, and were already of the P.M. persuasion. The Plan-Beg for cottage meetings is till to be seen and such was their enthusiasm that, after a hard days work, they could cart by hand the stone and timber needed for the present Agneash chapel, built 1857.

John Butcher and his son Thomas (called locally Butcher-Beg) held many camp meetings in the glens and mountain sides. The cholera epidemic took heavy toll of Laxey as elsewhere, but it also brought others to a fear of sin and they crowded to seek salvation. The great mine disaster to Laxey Mines claimed some promising Methodists, local preachers and leaders John and James Oliver being among them.

The villages welcomed the simplicity of the message. At Baldrine meetings were held in Mrs. Kelly's cottage, led by Thomas Kewin [sic Lewin] and in 1843 the first chapel - now the schoolroom -was erected. Baldhoon, now closed, was held in a cottage, but almost immediately there was such a response that 'a neat small chapel to seat 100' was put up with an attendance of 80 and similar numbers in the Sunday Schools.

Onchan was missioned quite early and they met in the cottage of a Mrs. Corrin; when they settled on a piece of land they were told, in no uncertain terms it was not for Ranters! They eventually built at the top of Summerhill Road, and, of course, after Methodist Union amalgamated with the Wesleyans to form the present thriving society. A branch of the Onchan society met at Tromode, and the society at The Braaid began in 1834 in a barn. When the owner needed the barn they built the substantial chapel they still use, dated 1857. The Strang Society began in 1839 and their chapel (now a dwelling house)dates from 1855.

Camp Meetings, a great feature of Primitive Methodism, were held around Douglas, notably at Port-e-Shee, Hillberry and Onchan. Wm. Clowes, one of the P.M. founders addressed a great camp meeting in 1828 and when Hugh Bourne arrived unexpectedly on Aug 12th 1839, the local leaders went round 'knocking-up' sleepers to attend the 5 a.m. meetings.

Ireland had been missioned from Preston in 1842 and it is interesting to see that the Irish Mission was included with the Isle of Man for one year, until taken over by the Home Missions Department. In 1842 the I.O.M. strength in Primitive Methodism numbered 1770 with six ministers and one hundred local preachers.

The town society continued to grow, and in spite of four preaching services, two in Manx and two in English and with Bourne Hall as a supplement, they were overcrowded. The move to new premises was, unfortunately, a subject of dissent, and in 1872 some of the young men - deemed by the Trustees to be too young to be consulted - left Wellington Street, and rented the former St. James Hall in Atholl Street; with no resources, they undertook personally to pay the rent of £20 a year. They prospered and as they grew the Wellington Street extensions were less urgently needed.
At this point details must be omitted, but the Bucks P.M. Church was opened on July 19th 1900.

The venture in faith towards the Loch Parade site is an outstanding one. The land was part of Governor Loch's development scheme, and the site was literally on the sand. They first chose three plots, costing £300, and they had to build barriers to keep back the sand. and preserve the foundations from high seas. They built on two lots reserving the third for later extensions, but in August 1877 they sold the third plot for £2,000 to help pay for the building - great pity now (1971)when extension is needed. In 1906 the building was put on the P.M. Trust Deed as distinct from the Manx Deed by which natural heirs of Trustees took over responsibility whether they were interested or not.

The Bucks Road society merged with Rose Mount (Wesleyan) now called Trinity, and the Loch Parade amalgamated with Victoria Street under the name of The Lower Douglas society but at the time of writing both sets of premises are still in alternate use - summer and winter.

The early aims of the P.M. founders were maintained at Bucks Road. and Loch Parade, especially in the matter of open air witness. In 1902 they applied for permission to hold open-air services on Harris Promenade and. the editor of the Isle of Man Examiner was most scathing about it "Let them all come, Christadelphians, Swedenborgians, Latter Day Saints, Salvation Army, Infidels, Jews and Turks. Let them all have services together to the strains of the Douglas Town Band " The reply from the editor of The Wesleyan Record is enlightening ,' The Examiner is evidently becoming a comic paper - let the editor beware of loss of Methodist patronage" .

In 1902 the P.M. Church felt the need for the Northern end of Douglas to have a chapel and after meetings had been held in Dukes Road in a house, led by Mr Issac Quirk, they obtained. use of part of Victoria College in Marathon Road, where a vigorous society has been carried on for seventy years

By 1906 the circuit then, not including Laxey which was a separate circuit then, had 1630 members, 2 ministers and 36 local preachers.