Herefordshire Through Time
Herefordshire Through Time
Non-conformist preachers required no specialist training or qualifications and, as today, many of them were laymen. What was required of them was evidence of their conversion to Christ, a passion for the salvation of their congregation and the ability to communicate their faith in simple terms.
Occasionally we hear of women who were preachers of the Dissenting religions, though not to the same extent as men. At a basic level the participants in the religion believed in the spiritual equality of men and women, yet not all members of the faith believed this to be so. John Wesley himself found it hard to decide whether women should be allowed to preach or not, praising some women for their preaching talent and then laying down laws that forbade them to take scripture. It cannot be denied that women preachers created a curiosity and certainly were responsible for drawing more men into the religion. By 1818 20% of Primitive Methodist preachers were women, and by 1824 30% of the travelling preachers were women.
Most preachers from the Non-conformist religions were itinerant, that is they travelled around the country spreading their faith by preaching in the open air or at private meetings. As the numbers of preachers grew so did the area that they could cover and the number of circuits that they could complete. In 1746 there were seven Methodist preaching circuits, in 1790 this had grown to 60 and by 1830 the number had exploded to 336. This was one advantage that the Non-conformist religions had over the Church of England - they were flexible in structure.
In the first half of the 19th century, most of the expansion of the Non-conformist religions took place in the countryside, the industrial villages and the small towns of England and Wales where small-scale urbanisation had begun but had not yet caused religion to become psychologically unnecessary or socially irrelevant (see Dissenters, Vol. II, p. 134).
Non-conformist preachers tended not to be tied to one particular chapel. John Wesley even ordered his preachers not to remain at one chapel for any longer than two years. With this constant moving about and introduction of new blood into the chapels the Non-conformist religions managed to achieve what the Anglican Church found difficult - an ability to remain fresh and relevant to the society in which they were preaching. To much of 19th century society the Anglican Church lacked the excitement, congregational involvement and emotional spirit of the dissenting churches. The theology that the Anglican Church promoted appeared to lack the passion and commitment that members of the Dissenting churches found desirable.
The itinerant nature of the Dissenting religions was suited to a society that was growing and developing rapidly and yet was still largely made up of widely-dispersed settlements.
It is interesting to note that in areas where the landscape was made up of small villages with most of the land owned by one landlord the majority of people worshipped in the traditional parish church. This is because in small villages where the inhabitants were close to the parish church they were less likely to feel let down and neglected by the pastor. Also in areas where the landlord was sympathetic to the Anglican Church he could prevent his tenants from worshipping in Dissenting churches. Landlords could also refuse to let their tenants have land on which to build Non-conformist chapels and meeting houses. One example is at Shobdon where at one time most of the land in the area was owned by one squire who preferred people to attend the parish church and who forced the dissenters in the area to meet in secret. Their chapel was finally built in 1924 on land donated by a Mr. Williams.
Although Hereford was not at the forefront of the so-called Evangelical Revolution, it did benefit from the visits of three of the most important men in the Methodist Religion - George Whitfield, John Wesley and Charles Wesley.
George Whitfield visited the county in April 1743 and preached at Leominster before visiting Hereford and Ross, but without time to stop and preach.
John Wesley visited the county in August 1746. He had been preaching at Builth and was due to ride on to Carmarthen but by mistake notice had been given of his preaching in Leominster and he had to alter the course of his journey to preach in Herefordshire instead. He also preached in Kington. In 1762 John Wesley once again passed through the county, and although he did not preach he stayed overnight at the Swan and Falcon (now the City Arms) in Hereford.
Charles Wesley, brother of John, visited Herefordshire in June 1749 to join his wife and her family at the Swan and Falcon. He tried to preach at the Cathedral but found the doors closed to him. On 8th June 1749 he preached in Leominster and was well received.
George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement, also visited this county, staying at Leominster in 1657, where he preached in the open air to a large crowd for three hours. George Fox visited the town a second time in 1667 and the "Society of Friends" was organised in the area.
[Original author: Miranda Greene, 2003]