THE HEART OF ALL ENGLAND

Having touched a portion of the original Hexham Circuit, let us go into the parent area itself, the Tyne valley, over the beauties of which Dr. Collingwood Bruce (of Roman Wall fame) used to break out into high eulogy. Amid scenes, once famous in ancient Border warfare, the fathers of the Primitive Methodist Connexion won battles for the Lord of Hosts. The town of Hexham was “opened” in 1822 by a preacher from Shotley Bridge, which, Mr. Kendall remarks, would almost seem to have been a kind of sub-branch of Barnard Castle at that time. According to Mr. Petty, a native of Hexham, who had been working in Weardale, while on a visit to his parents, gave exciting accounts of the introduction of Primitive Methodism into that dale, probably the lower part of it, and his statements, together with the hymns and tunes he sang, created much interest amongst his friends and acquaintances. John Gibson was led by curiosity to go to Newcastle, to the opening of the Butchers’ Hall as a preaching place by the Primitives, on October 20th, 1822, and he invited the preachers to Hexham. As they could not comply with his request, he applied to Shotley Bridge, and on the 26th of the same month a preacher from thence arrived in Hexham. A society of five members was at once formed, John Gibson being the first to join. The bellman was sent through the town to announce that a Primitive Methodist missionary would preach the following day in the Old Malt Kiln, on the Battle Hill, and long before the time appointed for the service to commence the place was crowded. Many stout-hearted sinners trembled during the powerful services, and five more persons united with the infant cause. Opposition arose, but in spite of serious persecution, “bricks and stones being often thrown by the ungodly,” many souls were turned to the Lord in the Old Kiln.

Mr. Gibson, in conversation with a minister over a quarter of a century ago, said William Southarts (? Suddards) and Jane Annandale (? Ansdale), who became Suddards’ wife, were the first preachers. Gibson lived till he was over ninety, and did a great amount of work in the interests of Primitive Methodism. He used to tell how on one occasion Hugh Bourne, James Bourne, and William Clowes all visited Hexham together, and slept in his house; how the first camp meeting in the locality was held at Stagshawbank, and what wonderful effects were produced; how the meetings were held in the Malt Kiln until the first chapel was built in Bull Bank in 1830, and how many trials the society passed through until the old chapel was superseded by the Hebbron Memorial Chapel in 1863.

After its formation in 1824, Hexham Circuit spread itself in all directions, preaching services being established in the villages east and west along the Tyne Valley, in Hexhamshire, and in several places in central Northumberland. In ten years there were thirty-seven places on its plan at which there were Sunday services (including towns as far apart as Haltwhistle, Morpeth, and Rothbury), and eleven other places at which the travelling preachers were appointed on the week-nights, making forty-eight in all. Four ministers were then on the station — Stephenson, Huggins, Houghton, and Wrightson — and thirty-six local preachers and exhorters. On the Sundays, the ministers were planned twice or thrice, and four, five, or six times on the weeknights, having usually to walk long distances.

Ten years further on—1844—there were thirty-four places in the circuit at which Sunday services were established, and three more where the travelling preachers held meetings on week-nights. Notwithstanding that Rothbury and Morpeth had been given up, the station was then thirty-five miles from north to south, and twenty-four from east to west. A reprint of the plan is now before us, the original being in the possession of Thomas Carrick, of Keswick, whose name appears on it as one of the twenty-one prayer-leaders, along with two Bells, two Saints, two Crows, two Ridleys, a Kirk, Elliott, Mews, Armstrong, Rowntree, Dent, Smith, Burkitt, Laing, Galloway, Maers, and another Carrick— seven bands of prayer leaders in all. The travelling preachers were Moses Lupton, McReadie, Robert Clapham, and Ralph Shields. Among the local preachers were two Saints, of Haltwhistle; two Ramseys, husband and wife, of Bavington, and Porteus and Steward, of the same place; Shafto, of Bavington Hall; Pears, of Hunstanworth; Brown, Harrison, and Brodie, of Ingoe; Parker, of Bay Bridge; Adamson, of Spittal Shield; Hudspith, of Spittal Shield, and Hudspith, of Cowburn; Waugh, Charlton, Johnson, Allinson, and Temperley, of Catton; Henderson, of Angerton, and Dodds, of Humshaugh; Davison and Hutchinson, of Dean Raw; Green, of Dye House; Rutherford, of Whittington; Hodgson, of Hexham, and Hodgson, of Shildon; Leonard, of Shotley Bridge; Bell, of Anick; Benton, of Brinkburn Lodge; Proud, of Hole House; Gibson, of Cambo; Irving, of Cowburn; Hamilton, of Haltwhistle; Thornton, of Donkin Rigg; Thompson, of Bogg; and Corbitt and Symm, of Haydon Bridge. Thomas Adamson was circuit steward. What an array, spread over such a space!

John Oxtoby visited Hexham in 1825, and in the following year such places as Blaydon, Whickham, Swalwell, and even Shotley Bridge, were on the Hexham plan; while during the superintendency of John Lightfoot the circuit sustained three missions—Jedburgh, in Roxburghshire, ‘as well as Morpeth and Rothbury. Hugh Bourne was in Hexham in 1829, on which occasion he went to Bavington Hall, the seat of Squire Shafto, and had a powerful time in preaching. It was here where Mr. Bourne made his famous statement regarding the teetotalers. Mrs. Shafto asked him if he had joined the Total Abstinence Society. “No,” he replied; “they have joined me; I was a teetotaler before the teetotalers began their society.” Robert Ingram Shafto’s claim to belong to a good old county family was unimpeachable, and notwithstanding his long pedigree and his rent-roll, the owner of Bavington Hall had his name in the class-book along with his dependants, and enjoyed a camp meeting with as much zest as any of them. He had been a younger son, and it was while he was a solicitor in Sunderland that he came under the influence of the early preachers, experienced the regenerating power of God’s grace, and united with the society. On succeeding to the Bavington estate— the Hall stands about twelve miles north of Hexham, on the borders of a rugged tract of country—he, in a simple, unostentatious way, made it pretty widely understood that he was a Primitive Methodist, and intended his life to be in harmony with his religious profession. He started a society and Sunday School, took part in the evangelisation of the neighbourhood, and had a chapel built. To the Sunday School he gave special attention, and for many years rendered much devoted service as its superintendent. Members and local preachers from a distance were, at his instance, offered inducements to settle on the estate, and Bavington was soon noted all round the countryside as a centre of Primitive Methodism. While liberally supporting the Interests of the circuit and Connexion generally, Mr. Shafto took special interest in the Rothbury mission. But the Bavington society and Sunday School were scattered by the Squire’s son, who got a dislike to the church of his parents while at one of the Universities; and when he obtained possession of the estate, turned the Primitives out of the chapel, which had not been made connexional. The young man did not hold the estate long afterwards.

About 1832 Hexham resolved to mission the Morpeth and Rothbury districts, and, while in Newcastle, John Coulson, an enterprising and intrepid missionary, had become acquainted with, and conceived an admiration for, Joseph Spoor, then a young local preacher at Whickham. Spoor, his sister Jane, and his companion, Thomas Jobling (who afterwards became a travelling preacher and General Missionary Secretary), had been converted under the famous Wesleyan minister, Hodgson Casson, but had found the spirit of the early Primitives more in keeping with their fervent souls, and they joined them. At the instigation of Mr. Coulson, the “keel lad” was appointed to “break up” the bleak and uninviting ground in the north. At the outset the youth met with such hardships as sleeping under haystacks and hedges, and having to eat wild fruit to allay his hunger, the whole being embittered by want of success in his mission. Eventually he ran away from the conflict; but he had not gone far until he bethought himself that he was more cowardly than Jonah. With strong cries and tears he sought and found strength in the hour of his bitter need, and invigoration for the mighty labours and sufferings which marked his future career. It was when Spoor was at an appointment at Morpeth that his memorable encounter with Billy Purvis, the celebrated north-country showman of the period, took place. The preacher and his friends were holding an open-air meeting in the Market Place, and Billy, fearing that it was a rival entertainment, summoned his “band,” and the horn and drum were played with vigour, whereat the singers “took breath.” The musicians tired quickly, and the singers started afresh or Spoor prayed, but “ Billy’s band” went at it again. After other attempts, the showman lost heart and his band lost breath. On seeing that he was beaten, Billy, as a parting fling, took his speaking-trumpet, and roared out to Spoor: “Aa warrand thoo thinks theesel’ a clivvor fellow, noo.” With a clear field, Spoor preached with vigour to a large crowd.

Mary Porteus joined the circuit in 1833, and it rose in prosperity. She narrates that there were “some fine jumpers” in Hexhamshire, and felt delighted in being in meetings with them, believing them to be devoted people. She was a fast favourite with Mr. and Mrs. Shafto, and after her “location” she was six years at the Hall attending upon Mrs. Shafto’s mother.

Five ministers were on the station In 1841-2. William Brining was superintendent, and his colleagues included Christopher Hallam, Henry Yooll, and Cohn C. McKechnie, names which, through themselves and the sons of two of them, have been writ large in the annals of Primitive Methodism. Truly, John Hallam’s mother might have been reckoned as yet another colleague, for she frequently preached in the circuit, and Mr. McKechnie claims for her that she had a mental equipment that would have been creditable to any minister of the gospel. Amid much hostility, Mr. McKechnie zealously laboured in Rothbury and the locality for three months, and a few good people were gathered into fellowship, Thomas Thornton, farmer, Cambo, being a sample. We join the lament of some of our best men who have deplored that the Connexion has lost all bold of that part of Northumberland. Fortunately, Morpeth has been splendidly saved to Primitive Methodism.

On a pleasant Sunday morning, when he was walking from Edmondbyers to Carterway Heads, Mr. McKechnie was aproached by two horsemen, one of whom was Hugh Bourne. It was a delightful surprise. Mr. Bourne was equally surprised when he learned that the young man—he was just over twenty—had been in the Primitive Methodist ministry about four years. “well,” said Mr. Bourne, after expressing his wonder, “you will need much grace to keep you right, but not more than you can get. Be faithful, my young brother, be faithful; and the Lord bless you in your work, and keep you steadfast.”


TROJANS OF THE TYNE

Through all the decades succeeding, the valley of the Tyne was evangelised and nurtured by godly men and women, and village chapels and societies to-day testify to the fidelity to conviction of Northumberland’s sons and daughters. Many of the old ministers speak in warm terms of the three brothers Lowes, farmers, of Cowburn and Galisharigg, “just under the Roman Wall,” says William R. Widdowson. Two of them were members, and at the services at Cowburn the dogs entered the chapel with the shepherds. Thomas Lowes’ wife had three notable cousins: John Martin, the famous painter; his brother Jonathan, who set York Minster on fire; and William, who claimed that he was the original designer of the High Level Bridge, Newcastle.

What an attractive past Haydon Bridge has had! What men it has had, and what men it still has! When John Snaith entered the circuit in the early sixties, his first Sunday services were at a Haydon Bridge camp meeting, and he was highly pleased with the members. But he was shocked with the place of worship—a sort of a barn, at the end of a yard, and the worshippers had to pass unsavoury stables and byres. Henry Yooll, sen., was his superintendent, and a better chapel was built while they were in the circuit. To the assemblies in this later edifice it was a delight to preach—the tone, the fervour, the hallowed sanctity, made the services fruitful. The present chapel and commodious school are a credit to the men and women who have fostered and served the cause for so many years. In the glowing days Matthew T. Wigham, the thoughtful, spiritual, idealistic, now one of the prominent local preachers in London, and treasurer of the General Local Preachers’ Training Movement, was a young man. John Davidson was in the heyday of his powers. Converted at Milfield (near Wooler), his earnestness and devotion soon brought him to the front. In 1875 he became the agent for the Greenwich Hospital Estates in the higher reaches of the Tyne, and made Haydon Bridge his home. Not Hexham Circuit alone, but Northumberland and Durham counties know John Davidson as a preacher of power and a man of high character—not his church alone, but outsiders have done him honour. Now Ald. Davidson, J.P., he and his family have been pillars in the society.

Langley also has an interesting story. Fifty years ago the Primitives had a good cause at Langley Mill, services being alternately held afternoon and evening in the same chapel with the Free Methodists: Though the Primitives were the stronger party they had to leave. There was a similar case of “combination”—Wesleyans and Primitives this time—at Ramshaw, but as the building was the property of the Lead Mining Company, neither could turn the other out. The Langley incident, however, was a real gain to the Primitives. Including James Davison, there were a few local preachers who were a living power in the neighbourhood. The former opened his school-room at Dean Raw, not far away, and souls were saved during the years the services were held in it. A good chapel and caretaker’s house were subsequently built, to which schools have since been added. Around this village sanctuary will cling the names of the Davison., the Wighams, and others for all time.

Who of the Northmen in Primitive Methodism in the Sixties did not know or had not heard of James Davison of Dean Raw? He was a young man when he gave himself to the Lord in the old school-room at Milfield, and his conversion was the occasion of unusual joy, for he was then a thoughtful and intelligent man. Excelling as a schoolmaster at Dean Raw, he also excelled as a local preacher and as a man of mental and moral strength, and left behind him a name and an influence which exercise their spell until this hour. District Meetings knew him; Conferences knew him; for twenty miles around his home he was best known, and it was always to this man that people turned when in trouble. He was a counsellor and comforter as well as a king. It was a common saying that James Davison’s wife was made for him, and the tributes to her kindly hospitality have been abundant. That the late Dr. Joseph Parker had not been insensible of the widespread influence exerted by Mr. Davison was manifested on one occasion when they met at Haydon Bridge, after the doctor became famous. When he saw the schoolmaster—Mr. Widdowson was a spectator of the scene—he greeted his old friend with the exclamation : “ Mr. Davison and Primitive Methodist camp meetings!” In a letter of the most intimate kind to Mr. Davison, the doctor spoke of him as being ever associated in his mind with bound less kindness, cultivated intellect, and open straightforwardness.

Dr. Parker’s connection with Primitive Methodists was most intimate in his early days, though there is a doubt as to whether he or his father was actually in membership. it is a fact—the venerable Robert Garnett, of Coxhoe, is our witness, who not only heard the story from the lips of George Charlton, but had lodged with the Parkers in Hexham, when he was a travelling preacher—that Joseph Parker’s father was induced to sign the pledge by the noble temperance advocate named; and Teasdale Parker was drunk on the day that George Charlton first tackled him in a railway train. Joseph, when a youth, used to go with John Green, a Hexham local preacher, to his appointments, and took part in the services. He was also very intimate with William Hudspith and Joseph Saint, of Haltwhistle. Saint had a great gift in prayer, and Parker admired him much. The last time Mr. Carrick, of Keswick, saw the doctor they talked much about Joseph Saint, and, says the first-named, “I was always struck with the similarity in the manner and matter of the prayers of Saint and Parker.”

A preaching place was opened at Belsay in 1874, when Robert Ord became factor for Sir Arthur Middleton, Bart. Mr. Ord held an influential position in the circuit for many years, and his devotion, and that of his wife, to the Belsay society gave it strength. A young man was sent there as a hired local preacher, and the experience was to determine whether he was to go into the ministry or into business. By the conversion of souls the Lord made it plain to the youth that he was wanted for the highest calling upon earth, and as a circuit minister and an administrator the Connexion knows and appreciates Matthew P. Davison, a worthy son of the Langley schoolmaster. For many years the Bambridge family has been most intimately associated with Belsay; and Edward Mews and his sterling wife are still spoken of with affection. John Richardson’s work there is also worthy of recognition. Of Robert Ord’s fruit, John Teasdale (a fine type of the Cumberland character), who was restored one night in the old Bull Bank Chapel, Hexham, was a striking example.

Dye House, where there is a convenient little chapel, was once noted for its camp meetings. It is believed to have been the birthplace of Ald. Charlton, though Mr. Carrick holds that the reformer was born at Corbridge. Charlton went to Blaydon when he was sixteen years of age, was a butcher in Newcastle when he was twenty, removed to Gateshead, and was Mayor of that borough for two years—1873 and 1874.

From Hardhaugh, another little village, there went out a youth, who was converted, together with his amiable sister, during revival services conducted by Mr. Snaith, and who was known throughout the Connexion as W. E. Crombie, secretary of the Alresford Orphan Home, and thereafter Governor of Elmfield College. Young Crombie and Henry Yooll, jun., were put on the plan together, and were candidates for the ministry at the same time, regarding which John Hallam had much to do. Some of the men and women who were to the fore in Hardhaugh old chapel in the sixties have fallon on sleep, and Warden new chapel stands as the representative of the parent structure, in which some of the elders are still serving their day and generation.

Acomb society has a record which some look back upon with feelings of pleasure. Of Hallington, James Young, who knows the region well, speaks of the generosity of John Hall in connection with the new chapel. John Snaith tells of the days when services were held in Hallington Hall, then occupied by three or four families, and when Thomas Richardson and his wife were so kind to the preachers. Mr. Snaith held revival meetings in the Hall, and two of the converts were John Hall and John Gilhespie. Ingoe had a chapel as early as 1848. The Brodie, Harrison, and Proudlock families gave this village church strength and status long ago, and there are yet Harrisons to look after the concerns of the rural society. George Richardson, a remarkable man, also dwelt at Ingoe some years ago. Matthew T. Pickering says Richardson was noted for two things: his knowledge of the Scriptures was wonderful, and he was a seer. William Dawson, of Blyth, a native of Matfen, and one of Richardson’s spiritual children, writes :—“Put him in your history, and say he was a man of God, who, being dead, yet speaketh in the heart and life of one among many he led to the Saviour, nursed in the faith, and set before him high ideals of Christian service.” Strange stories of an occult character are told about Richardson and Ralph Ramsey, of Bavington, and his wife. Ralph was singularly quaint and of great spiritual insight. He was of the band referred to by Mrs. Porteus, all of whom were held in high esteem for their consistency and goodness.

Space forbids us do more than mention the names of Matthew Lee, who became a travelling preacher in 1827; of the Simpsons, of Bavington—it was Martin who gathered the children into his own house, after the dispersion of the Sunday School; of Isaac Bulman, one of the first to join the Edmondbyers society in 1824; of old Mrs. Forster, of Hexham, who was a power in the society for over half-a-century; of Mrs. Hunter, a great friend of the preachers and a woman of rare intelligence and piety; of Bessie Dodds—“Aunt Bessie”—who, along with her brothers Adam (the travelling preacher), William, John, and Walter, was converted at Milfield, and who was connected with Corbridge society until her death a short time ago; of Ann Wilson, of Whittington, another woman of great force of character, converted at the first Stagshawbank camp meeting; of Ralph Martindale, of Muggleswick, who was a short time in the ministry; of Thomas Parker, of Bay Bridge, known far and wide as a local preacher, lived until his ninety-fifth year, and who has a grandson in the ministry—John T. Gallon, of Willington; and of Irwin Murray, of Hexham, the faithful.

Another chapter is opening in the history of Hexham Primitive Methodism, and Matthew Davison, J. Dixon, John Hall, John Davidson, W. Henderson, Richard Davison, John Lisle, J. Dent, Willie Maughan, H. T. A. Thew, and a host of other veterans, supported by E. S. Lee, J. W. Dent, G. Ridley, and many more of the younger men, have been witnesses of the dawning of the new era. It is many years since the Hebbron Memorial Chapel was built. In addition to his influence as a preacher, Henry Hebbron was connected with the circuit by marriage, his wife being a member of the Ridley family, several of whom were persons of position in the locality, and a chapel was erected to the memory of the popular minister in Hexham. Unfortunately, the position was not good, and for a long time that has militated against the fuller success of the society. A splendid site in Battle Hill was acquired years ago, but no movement to build was made until John G. Bowran became the superintendent minister in 1906; and, notwithstanding the terrible ordeal through which that gifted man passed in the loss of his wife, he put the scheme into such a position that a handsome suite of premises—church, schools, etc.—will be opened this summer. It is a commanding work, and the phenomenal scene at the foundation-stone laying on Whit-Monday, 1908, when over £1,300 was realised, was a tribute to the regard in which Mr. Bowran is held personally, as well as to his organising ability, his popularity as a minister and writer, and his capacity for work. It has been well said that the new church at Hexham is a triumph of tact, courage, and enthusiasm.


STILL ON THE BORDERLAND

“’Wunz! hear ye! If God’s coomen here, it’s time aa wiz gannen. Let me be oot o’ this!” An agitated qoman thus gave vent to her feelings on December 3rd, 1822, while William Clowes was praying in Joseph Saint’s kitchen at the Dye House, Haltwhistle. Clowes was on his journey from Carlisle to Hull Quarterly Meeting, and stopped at Haltwhistle on his way. A crowd had gathered in the aforesaid kitchen to hear the strange evangelist, and he prayed with his accustomed fervour, faith, and vivid realism of expression. All in the house were moved, and some were terrified. He pleaded for the Lord to come down among them, repeating the petition several times, and crying: “Come, Lord; come, come, c-o-m-e, c—o—m—e!” Then, rising into a more confident tone, he exclaimed: “I hear the rumbling of His chariot wheels! He’s coming! He’s c—o—m—i—n—g!” It was at this juncture that the woman quoted above could contain herself no longer, and fled from the house. Others followed her, while many that remained were shaking from head to foot.

Whether Clowes was the first Primitive Methodist to visit Haltwhistle is not clear. It is certain that members of the Saint family, if not others also in the locality, knew of the doings of the Primitives, and were ready to join the small society formed on that eventful winter night. Hexham Circuit took charge of the little band, and over twenty years afterwards Haltwhistle held the sixteenth place on the plan, even Cowburn and Henshaw being above it. Seventeen miles above Hexham, lying snugly in the Tyne valley, overlooked on the south by the rising swell of Plainmellor Fell, and hemmed in on the north by the well-known range of basaltic crag, crowned by the famous Roman Wall, Haltwhistle is an irregularly built old place. The remains of old Border castles may be found not far away, recalling the strifes of ruder times, but we may not indulge in that alluring theme.

For six years after the soul-stirring meeting held by William Clowes, services took place in an old woollen factory belonging to the Saints, and Joseph Saint was the shepherd of the flock; but a chapel was built in 1828 in the “Mill Lonnen,” half way down the Castle Bank, John Flesher and William Thackray being the preachers at the opening. The society then numbered four, all of one family, but they had raised about £100, and the membership soon rose to ten. Much good was done in the unpretentious building, and in it Joseph Parker, then a mere stripling, made one of his first, if not his very first, efforts at public speaking. Young Parker was very frequently in Haltwhistle, preaching and speaking on temperance. His association with Joseph Saint has been already referred to.

It was also In the Mill Lane Chapel where, in the spring of 1843, the Scotch missionaries, who were engaged and paid by “Douglas of Cavers,” began a work which had a remarkable influence upon the inhabitants of Upper Tynedale. Douglas was the lineal descendant of the second Earl, who was killed by Percy at the Battle of Otterburn, 1388, and the mission was the evangelistic outcome of the Morisonian movement in Scotland. The work of conversion spread for miles around Haltwhistle, and “the consistent prominence of several who identified themselves with the Nonconformist churches,” says the late William Hudspith, “and who became not only leaders in their societies, but prominent in business pursuits, helped to remove existing prejudices and to establish the societies in the goodwill of the people. The places of worship, which were few and insignificant, Increased and were enlarged. These have since been doubled and quadrupled.”

More than three-score years have sped since that great awakening, and yet there are some surviving who were borne into the kingdom by the upward Impulse which then operated, notably T. Ridley, of Haltwhistle, and T. Carrick, of Keswick. Miss Pattinson, who subsequently became the wife of James Davison, of Dean Raw, was one of the converts of that time. Thomas Carrick was then sixteen years of age, and soon after his conversion he became a class-leader, having among his members his own mother and the wife of Adam Dodds, who was then stationed at Haltwhistle. Susannah Carrick had the joy of seeing her son Thomas—in 1847, when he was twenty years of age—become a preacher of the Word. He retired from the itinerancy in 1855, in consequence of his health giving way. The writer well remembers a night in Consett Chapel when another Susannah Carrick, the granddaughter of the former, gave herself to the Lord.        It was in the sixties, after a sermon preached by Andrew Latimer, then one of the ministers, and a number of young people entered into the joy of God’s salvation on that hallowed eve. In 1907, under the heading of “Octogenarian’s Lay Sermon at Keswick,” a local newspaper gives a digest of a sermon preached in the Wesleyan Chapel, Keswick, by Mr. T. Carrick, J.P., who is described as “one of the grand old men of Cumberland.” “ I am now over eighty years of age,” he said to the writer in the autumn of 1907, “and never tasted intoxicating liquor or tobacco since I was born; and my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren ditto.’’

During the winter of 1851 and the next spring many conversions took place at various villages, the most productive services being those at Angerton (a colliery village, four miles west of Haltwhistle) and Greenhead, the school-room in which the services were held being midway between the places named. Angerton no longer appears on the plan, but Greenhead, where a chapel was built, has been a stirring place. When W. R. Widdowson was sent there by Conference he found strife about whether the chapels to be built at Greenhead and Coanwood should be connexional or unconnexional. Harry Proud, one of the “anti-connexionals” at Greenhead, and secretary of a club holding a piece of land which he was anxious Mr. Widdowson should buy for the chapel, was won over by the kindness and strategy of the minister, and the sanctuary was soon built. At Coanwood, one of the managers of the colliery, Thomas Walton, brother of Isaac Walton, was a connexional man; and some young men having been a short while before that converted in the village, a band of loyal trustees was soon got, and the work of building proceeded with.

In the matter of chapel-building Mr. Widdowson rendered a lasting service to the circuit, for he also got the Haltwhistle society out of the “Mill Lonnen” in 1863 into a more commodious building in a much better position. When he left, there was only about £200 debt on the three chapels, peace prevailed, and the membership of the circuit had considerably increased. In his reminiscences of Haltwhistle, Mr. Widdowson refers to the Saints; to an excellent family named Bell, grocers and drapers, three brothers and two sisters, all elderly, and all unmarried, Joseph being circuit steward; old John Carrick, father of Thomas; Tommy Coulson, John Maxwell, Thomas Ridley, George Carrick, “and, not least, Isaac Walton and his wife.” He also speaks of William Armstrong, of the Whinshields, father of the secretary of the centenary movement, and of his dear friend James Davison (of Dean Raw), with whom he used to have many a talk, one of their topics being “the influence of our early work upon Dr. Morison (founder of the Evangelical Union Church of Scotland), and perhaps the influence of Morison on our work” in that corner of Northumberland and Cumberland.

In 1836 a little chapel was built at Henshaw. That was the time when William Towler was superintendent of Hexham Circuit, and old members used to speak of the marvellous effects of his eloquence at the great camp meetings which were held in those days. Richard Thompson, a small landowner and remarkable local character, who was converted under Mr. Towler, gave the site for Henshaw Chapel, and it was the standing custom that the camp meeting should be held In one of his fields. He was also a composer of music, and his brother William was noted for his power as a singer. At the camp meetings his voice could be heard far along the hillsides. A writer in 1883 says :—“The society here has included among its members and adherents some racy specimens of country Methodist character.” He names William Armstrong, his wife (who was converted under Mrs. Hallam), and sons, three of whom being local preachers and one a travelling preacher; John Thompson, of Cranberry, who is still alive and lives near Penrith; John Ridley, of Towhouse; the Hendersons, of Huntererook; old Matthew Pearson, and several excellent and devoted women.

Out by the Roman Wall there were in those days Thomas Hogg, a genuine Border shepherd, “full of Scotch metaphysics and poetic sentiment,” local preacher, class-leader, and leader of the choir at Cowburn; W. J. Legge, gamekeeper to Sir Edward Blackett, and quite a priest in the moorland parish; John Heslop, of Cowburn Shield (who died suddenly in 1908), and William Renwick, of Stone Faulds, also good samples of “ootbye folk.” It is an interesting fact that Cowburn Chapel, built during the superintendency of John Gill, is the only place of worship between Haltwhistle and Scotland, going due north, and that in the school-room a day school was established.

Many interesting particulars were supplied to us by T. Pearson Ellis, the superintendent minister, in March, 1908. He tells us that Joseph W. Heslop, grandson of old William Thompson, who was related to the notable Martins, is a good worker at Henshaw; John Ridley, late of Towhouse, now lives at Croft House, Henshaw, is still society steward, has one son a class-leader and Sunday School superintendent at Henshaw, another a candidate for the ministry in Canada, also two daughters, a daughter-in-law, and a son-in-law members at Henshaw; Matthew Henderson, of the Huntererook family, is in the Carlisle Circuit, and his brother William’s widow and son (J. P. Henderson) live at the home farm, the latter being a Henshaw official; John Maxwell, circuit steward for many years, died in 1907; Gilchrist, of Greenhead; John F. Graham, a local preacher for forty-nine years, is still vigorous; Thomas Ridley, another local preacher; John Nicholson; James Weir’s son Robert, a generous man; James Armstrong, of Whinshields, a fine strong man; John Richardson, of Harper Town, converted under James Jackson (a former superintendent), and who has been a member and local preacher at Coanwood for many years; Thomas Ritson, of Partridge Nest, Bardon Mill, elder brother of the present Connexional Editor, a local preacher for over fifty years, and who still takes appointments. Powels Carrick was sent into the ministry from this circuit; so also were Thomas Carrick, Robert Fairley, returned missionary, and John Wilkinson. Robert Walton, superintendent of Brandon Circuit, was born at Blenkinsopp Cottages; and near by Thomas Copeland, the father of the Methodist union movement at the Antipodes, first saw the light. In this circuit also William Walton, one of the front rank local preachers in East Northumberland, was reared.

But there is another yet to speak about. At Whinshields Farm, which lies at the foot of Whinshields Crag, where the old Roman Wall attains its highest point between east and west, there was born to William Armstrong a son, in 1856, who was destined to become one of the great personalities in the Primitive Methodist Church. It could never have been predicted of the modest, retiring lad George Armstrong was, that the day would come when he would fill such a large space in the Connexion’s life. But he was a thoughtful youth, became devoted to his father’s God and people, and there burned in his soul hidden fires which only needed opportunities to burst into flame. The opportunities came; larger and broader than ever he could have dreamed possible in the quiet of his rural home, or even after he had entered the wider spheres of life. The foundations of his character were laid in his puritanic home, where he heard of the mighty things which the fathers of the Connexion had accomplished. A Dean Raw scholar, at seventeen he was put on the plan, and at twenty-four was a travelling preacher. The hand of the Lord was upon him for good while he was a circuit minister, and he resisted every attempt made to nominate him for any connexional office until the call came from God and the Church he served to take up the monumental work of Centenary Secretary.

There are now many capable young men growing up to be useful officials in the circuit. In Haltwhistle there are 370 scholars in the Sunday School, the largest, as it was the first, in the locality, and Robert Hudspith and Joseph Batey have had the oversight of it for nearly thirty years. The choir, of which William H. Batey, son of Joseph, is leader, is noted for its musical ability. There are 380 members in the station, and the church property is valued at £5,000, the total debt being £300.