Swan Bank Methodist Church is a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

church in Swan Square,

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in ...

, in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The present church, built in 1971, replaced the earlier building of 1801.

History and description

The Society of Methodists in Burslem was established about 1740 by a group of miners who had heard

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

preaching in Bristol. Wesley visited Burslem in 1760, and one of the converts, John Lindop, opened his cottage for services. The first Methodist chapel was built in 1766. In 1783 Burslem was made head of a

Methodist circuit The organisation of the Methodist Church of Great Britain is based on the principle of connexionalism. This means that British Methodism, from its inception under John Wesley (1703–1791), has always laid strong emphasis on mutual support, in ...

. A brick building, Swan Bank Chapel in Swan Square, was erected in 1801, and enlarged in 1816.'The city of Stoke-on-Trent: Protestant Nonconformity', in ''A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 8'', ed. J G Jenkins (London, 1963)
British History Online. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
thepotteries.org. Retrieved 19 May 2025. Burslem Central Mission - geograph

There was a dispute in 1836 between the teachers of Burslem Sunday School, where reading and writing was taught to children, and the trustees of the chapel, who disapproved of the teaching of non-religious knowledge on a Sunday. They formed themselves as "The Methodist Society", eventually building in Burslem the Hill Top Methodist Sunday School, housing school rooms and a chapel."Burslem Sunday School"
thepotteries.org. Retrieved 20 May 2025. The school at Swan Bank was re-opened, under the management of the trustees, and Sunday School building were erected next to the chapel in 1851. The chapel in that year seated 1,290; average attendance was 500 in the morning and 800 in the evening. In 1870 a stone

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

style was added to the building. The chapel in 1949 became known as the Central Methodist Church. The church building was demolished in the late 1960s; the adjacent Sunday School buildings remained. The present church, designed by Hulme Upright and Partners, was built in 1971.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burslem, Swan Bank Methodist Church Methodist churches in Staffordshire 20th-century Methodist church buildings Churches in Stoke-on-Trent