Catalogue Reference | D/MS2 |
Title | Records of Newbury Bartholomew Street Primitive Methodist Church |
Description | Summary
Society administration
Trustees' meeting minutes, 1921-1974; trust accounts, 1944-1945; letter relating to tenders for new church, 1877; regulations for seatholders, n.d. [c.1877]; leaders' meeting, annual society meeting, and occasional committee minutes, 1921-1971; collection records, 1892-1968; Poor fund accounts, 1902-1971.
Society organisations
Women's Own minutes, 1951-1971; Band of Hope attendance register, 1902-1921; Young People's Guild minutes and other papers, 1925-1940, with Youth Committee minutes, 1944-1946; Girls' Life Brigade log, 1930-1934; Autumn Bazaar and Christmas Fayre minutes and other papers, 1966-1972.
Service of the church
Order of civic service, 1940.
Registration
Marriage registers, 1931-1966.
Sunday School
Teachers' meeting minutes, 1844-1850, 1933-1967; accounts, 1844-1931, 1953-1968; financial statements and reports, 1954-1967; registers, 1844-1845, 1951-1967; anniversary programmes and leaflets, 1883-1887.
Printed material/Miscellaneous
Primitive Methodist Magazine, 1841; jubilee handbook, 1927, and annual synod handbook, 1928; "Bart. St." news sheets, 1944-1971 (incorporated in the Methodist Newsletter 1963-1969); article written at time of church's closure, 1971; photocopies of documents relating to the history of the church, n.d.; photographs, n.d. [20C]; programme of Easter play, 1953. |
Date | 1841-1983 |
Repository | Berkshire Record Office (code: GB 005) |
Level | Fonds |
Extent | 33 vols, 33 bdls, 12 docs |
Admin History | This society dates back to the early 1830s when the adherents of Primitive Methodism first reached Berkshire. After the early open-air meetings and services held in local cottages and rented premises, the society bought Union Chapel in Union Court off Bartholomew Street in 1837, and moved into their newly-built Gothic church in 1877. The construction of this building, however, proved to be unsound. The roof was a constant source of trouble, and the church was declared unfit for use after the front gable collapsed in the early 1940s. Repairs were undertaken, but signs of movement detected in 1959 once again caused the church to be declared unsafe, and the hall to the rear was adapted and furnished for services to continue there. The church itself was demolished in 1962.
Attempts during the next ten years to find a new site on which to rebuild were in vain. There were also proposals to join up with other south Newbury societies in a new church. The need to sell the "Bart. St." site to finance a new building led eventually to an amalgamation with Stroud Green, begun in 1967 with the merger of the two Sunday Schools and then both societies' funds and membership. Morning services were held at Bart. St. and evening worship at Stroud Green, until finally the Bart. St. site was sold in 1971.
Bartholomew Street was the headquarters of the Newbury Primitive Methodist circuit until Methodist Union in 1937 (see D/MC 8, although few records survive). From 1937, it became part of the combined Newbury circuit (D/MC 9).
(See also D/EX 435/2 relating to Union Chapel; and Q/SO 14 p17 and Q/SO 15 p98 and p296 for registrations of religious meeting houses in Newbury. Apart from D/MS 2/8/1 below, no records survived at the church for the period up to 1877. Although Union Chapel had a burial ground, no burial records have been identified; see, however, MF 597 for burials of Newbury dissenters to 1837). |
Acquisition | Deposited in July 1974 (acc. 1944 part); December 1977 (acc. 2271 part); March 1979 (acc. 2369 part); October 1981 (acc. 2938 part); June 1988 (acc. 4238 part); March 1992 (acc. 4975 part); July 1995 (acc. 5652 part); July 2007 (acc. 8072); July 2010 (acc. 8618); December 2015 (acc. 9744); November 2019 (acc. 10626)
Schedule of accessions Acc. 1944 (part): 1A/3; 2A/4; 7C/1; 8/2; 8/6/10; 8/23 Acc. 2271 (part): 5B/1-3 Acc. 2369 (part): 2A/5; 2B/3,5; 8/1, 3-5; 8/6/1-9, 11-12; 8/7-22 Acc. 2938 (part): 3D/1; 7A/2-5; 7B/1-7; 7C/2 Acc. 4238 (part): 1A/1-2, 4; 1B/1-2; 2A/1-3; 2B/1-2, 4; 3A/1; 3D/2-4; 4B/1; 7A/1 Acc. 4975 (part): 1A/5; 1D/1; 3C/1-2 Acc. 5652 (part): 7A/6 Acc. 8072: 8/24 Acc. 8618: 1C/1-2; 8/25-30 Acc. 9744: 8/31 Acc. 10626: 7A/7-8 |
Arrangement | Classification scheme for Methodist society (chapel or church) records
[This scheme shows how the collection is arranged. This collection does not include every type of record in the scheme. See the summary for records included in this collection.]
1 Trustees 1A Trustees' meeting minutes 1B Trust accounts 1C Chapel property [deeds, certificates, licences, appointments of trustees] 1D Correspondence 1E Related committees 1F Other property [eg manse, hall, school] 1G Other
2 Leaders and society stewards/Church Council) 2A Leaders' meeting/Church Council minutes 2B Accounts 2C Committees 2D Correspondence 2E Other
3 Society organisations 3A Women's groups [except Women's Work 3B Men's groups 3C Joint fellowship [except Sunday Institute] 3D Youth organisations [except Sunday School] 3E Missions [including Women's Work] 3F Other
4 Service of the church 4A Pulpit notices 4B Orders of service 4C Ministers' papers 4D Other
5 Registration 5A Baptism 5B Marriage 5C Burial
6 Membership 6A Registers, class books and directories 6B Young disciples 6C Other
7 Sunday School and Sunday Institute 7A Sunday School minutes and accounts 7B Sunday School registers and cradle rolls 7C Other Sunday School records 7D Sunday Institute
8 Printed material/Miscellaneous |
Related Material | Records in other collections
D/MC 8/7A/1: Baptism register, 1831-1869 (MF 10377)
D/MC 8/7A/2: Baptism register, 1852-1880 (MF 10378)
D/MC 8/7A/3: Baptism register, 1877-1920 (MF 10379)
D/MC 8/7A/4: Baptism register, 1917-1957 (MF 10380)
D/MC 9/7A/2: Baptism register, 1952-1977 (MF 10382)
D/MS 15/1C/2: Plans of proposed new church, 1967 D/MS 15/3D/6: Youth Club accounts, 1962-1970s D/MS 15/8/1: Newsletters, 1970-1972 |
Access Conditions | With the exception of registers of baptism, marriage and burial, and other material whose contents have been made public, records of the Methodist Church are closed for 30 years, and pastoral records for 75 years, in accordance with Methodist Church standing orders.
Applications for access to closed records must be made in writing to the County Archivist. |