County Durham

This is a list of chapels that had been registered by 1867, derived from ‘A list of places of meeting for public religious worship, certified to the Registrar General’.   Remember that registration was not compulsory. The Methodist New Connexion probably had as many unreported chapels as registered, whilst a further eight UMFC chapels have been identified as being in use at this time. As registration was valid until cancelled, however, there may be duplication: i.e.  both the old and new chapels in a place may be listed. We have also discovered that the official location may not be the same as the name by which the chapel is commonly described.

The Methodist New Connexion were active aroung Gateshead and Sunderland, and the shipbuilding centre of Hartlepool. A list of their chapels in 1861, however, reveals that they were also active on the Durham coalfield.

The United Methodist Free Churches had places of worship in all the urban centres in the county. The eight seemingly unregistered chapels I have been able to identify were all located close to the registered chapels around Gateshead and Sunderland.

The Bible Christians did not mission this area until later in the nineteenth century.

Unless otherwise stated each of these places of worship is described as a chapel.

The numbers on the list relate to places, and match those on the map. The base map is provided under this licence

Use the search box to find out more about a chapel.

Reference: Baggaly, William. A Digest of the Minutes, Institutions, Polity, Doctrines, Ordinances and Literature of the Methodist New Connexion.  London: William Cooke, 1862,253 pp.