Brotton is a large village between Saltburn and Whitby near to the coast in the North Yorkshire
This is one of the very few former Bible Christian chapels in Yorkshire- are there others? Although the vast majority of these chapels were in the West Country , towards the end of the 19th century the sect began a series of missions in the north of England including North Yorkshire in the 1870’s. Perhaps the chapel at Brotton was established around this time.
It is not known exactly when the chapel opened but there are records of baptisms from 1876 and in September 1879 there was a record of a recognitive meeting with a new minister of the Bible Christian chapel.
The chapel is seen on the Ordnance Survey 25’’ map of 1895 on Railway Terrace, Brotton (current postcode TS12 2TQ) labelled Bible Christian Chapel. On the 1915 map it is labelled
U.M.Church and on the 1928 map as Meth Ch (Wes.)
In the 1940 listings it is given as Brotton (West End), a Wesleyan with room for 250 worshippers on forms.
It was destroyed by fire in 1946. In 2025 there is an electricity sub station on the site.
In the past there was another Wesleyan chapel in the village and a Primitive Methodist chapel also.
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Thank you for this post highlighting a possibly unexpected outpost of the Bible Christians. A lot of the Cornish Bible Christians were miners, and they appear to be the ones who moved into new areas of mineral exploitation, creating a demand, so to speak, for Bible Christian chapels. Brotton was in the Cleveland Circuit with, presumably, other chapels in an iron mining area (supplying the Middlesborough ironworks). On the other hand, the ciircuit manse was in Brotton in 1907.Other Bible Christian missions of the late nineteenth century operated on the West Cumberland ironfield, and the Durham coalfield.
Any further information about the Cleveland Circuit would be greatly appreciated.
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