Lancaster Methodist Church 

The history of the former Marsh church

Most of the information on this page is taken from "100 years: the Centenary Anniversary of the Marsh Methodist Mission, 1887-1987" by Roland Brooke.

It was in 1887 that the Lancaster Circuit of the Methodist Church opened its new mission on the Marsh, the first service being held on 16th May of that year. The society there was to continue to meet for over 100 years, the final service being held on 21st May 2000, following which the Marsh society merged with three other Methodist churches in Lancaster, becoming part of the new Lancaster Methodist Church.

The society was very successful from its earliest days - by 1890 there were nearly 200 boys and girls in its Sunday School and 22 teachers. In 1907 an extension was added at a cost of £212-12s-0d. By this time Sunday School numbers had grown to 256, with 176 members of the temperance Band of Hope. 56 men from the Marsh church joined the armed forces during the First World War, of whom nine were never to return. A Roll of Honour was commissioned, and this is now, nearly 100 years later, displayed in the Scotforth Road premises.

In the years between the World Wars the Mission continued to thrive. An annual highlight was the May Morning service, held in aid of the National Children's Homes and Orphanages - the services always started at 7.30 am! In 1929 there was a crisis when the building was found to be in a poor state of repair and to make matters worse the boiler burst during the harsh winter. As a result for a short period the Mission had to close - but by March 1930 repairs had been completed and normal church life resumed. Then in 1932 there were extensive celebrations of the Jubilee of the Mission.

With the outbreak of war in 1939 services started to be held in the afternoon rather than evening, presumably because of the blackout, though by 1940 they had reverted to evenings again. Iron railings at the front of the plot were cut down for the war effort. Despite all the difficulties, the Diamond Jubilee was celebrated in 1942, while the previous year a Women's Social Hour (later to be called the Ladies' Fellowship) had been inaugurated. On 6th May 1946 it is recorded that, with the end of the Second World War, the Mission remained open all day "so that anyone who wished to pray and meditate in silence and give thanks to God could do so".

In the 1950s the influence of the Mission extended worldwide in at least one respect: a spare organ was donated to a church in Jamaica that had been devastated by a hurricane - and the letter of thanks received remains on record. In 1956 a Youth Fellowship was started and it seems that the premises were in heavy demand. In 1960 the premises were for the first time registered for the solemnisation of marriages - even though it was to be 13 more years before the first was celebrated!

In the 1970s there was a marked increase in ecumenical activity, for example through the annual 'Whitsuntide Walk of Christian Witness' held jointly with St George's Anglican Church. However, by the mid 1970s membership was falling and the Mission had difficulty meeting its financial obligations - membership in 1977 stood at 16, and by 1982 it had fallen even further to 12. However, two years later it had increased again, to 17, and there were increasing numbers attending the Sunday School.

Although the Mission continued its work on the Marsh estate throughout the 1990s, the building - which was of mainly wooden construction - continued to give cause for concern and by the end of that period the cost of repair could not be justified. However, a new chapter was opening with the coming together of the Methodist societies of Lancaster - a story which is continued in the life of Lancaster Methodist Church as it witnesses to God in the city in the 21st century.

    Last modified: 16 November, 2008

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