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The Parish of Leigh |
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The Parish of Leigh |
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(Methodist District 6 Bolton & Rochdale, Circuit 6/7 Leigh & Hindley)
National Grid 366540,399850 (SJ 665998) (click for modern map)
The above shows the location in Chapel Street where the church was until fairly recently. However, it appears to have moved within the last few years to the address below, which is off the Warrington Road. The move must have been too recent for the church to show on any map yet in its new location - the current OS map still shows it in Chapel Street. I would be grateful if anyone can confirm this move.
Minister: Revd Susan Whitehead, PhD, BSc, MA
Address: Bedford Methodist Church, Breaston Avenue, Leigh, Lancs, WN7 3DJ
Tel: no number listed
No email or website
Please advise me if you find any of the above details have changed
Click here if you want to jump straight to the register detailsBedford Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was opened in 1793 and was the first Methodist chapel in Leigh.
The 1844 OS map shows a chapel in a lane which was later to become North Street, apparently just behind the later site on Chapel Street, and identified as "Methodist Chapel". The 1893 map shows it on its present site but does not identify the denomination, nor does the 1905 map. On both these latter maps a school is shown behind the church on what appears to be the earlier site.The chapel, unusually for a non-conformist chapel in the area, had its own burial ground.
The Wesleyan Methodists, United Methodists and Primitive Methodists merged in 1932 as the Methodist Church.
I have little more information on the chapel's history at the moment.
Back to topAbbreviations: Bp - baptism (christening), M - marriage, Bu - burial. Others are defined where they first occur.
The original records prior to 1837 were surrendered to the Registrar General under the Non-Parochial Registers Act of 1840. They are at the National Archives (formerly Public Record Office) at Kew under the following reference:
Births and Bp 1793-1836 [RG4 831]
The surrendered registers have been filmed. The films are available at the NA of course, but also at Lancashire Record Office [MF 1/73], at Manchester Archives and Local Studies (at Manchester Central Library) [MFPR 298] and the film may be hired from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) Family History Library for consultation at any of their Family History Centres [British film no 0560884]. The above film references also include Leigh Wesleyan and Bethesda Independent. The surrendered registers are also available on film at Wigan History Shop and Leigh Public Library [refs not known].
Some later original registers are at Wigan Archives (at Leigh Town Hall) as follows:
Bu 1799-1856 with a churchyard plan and list of churchyard burials
These have also been filmed and can be consulted on film at Wigan History Shop and Leigh Public Library.
The LDS have extracted the baptism records onto the IGI. The dates covered and batch numbers are as follows:
Bp 1793-1836 [C078961]
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