Between 1746 and 1790 John Wesley visited the town over 40 times and preached on at least 35 occasions. He was mobbed on a number of visits.

Wesleyan Methodists

There was a Society meeting in a meeting house from at least 1748. John Wesley preached in a partly built new meeting house in Park Road on Monday 25 October 1762. The Sunday School was started in 1801, teaching children to read and write. By 1821 there were 149 scholars. A replacement chapel named Ebenezer Wesleyan chapel was built in 1819 on land where the Tennis Court Inn had previously stood in Paul Street. It was designed to seat 1000 worshippers. It was enlarged and a porch added in 1860. On 7 October 1874 a new Sunday school and class rooms were opened. On Tuesday 28 October 1890 the foundation stones were laid for the Wesleyan Centenary House which was close to the Somerset and Dorset railway station. The property was a manse, named Centenary House to celebrate the centenary of the Shepton Mallet Circuit which was created from the Bradford-on-Avon Circuit in 1789. In the early 2000s the Methodists moved to St Peter's and St Paul's parish church in Peter Street. Shortly afterwards the Methodist Church premises in Paul Street became the Paul Street Community Centre.

'Primitive Methodists

There was a Class of 20 members in 1842 led by Mrs Anna Langford (1789-1858) when Shepton Mallet was a Mission in the Frome Circuit.

On the 1851 Place of Public Religious Worship census form, Mr Joseph Watts, a Local Preacher, living in Leigh on Mendip gave information about the numbers attending worship but in the entry for Name or Title of Place of Worship he entered 'None'. There is a suggestion that there was a meeting house registered in 1867 in the town in Leg Street. There is no Leg Street in Shepton Mallet although there is a Leg Square. On the Ordnance Survey maps of the area there is no Primitive Methodist chapel indicated. There seems to have been a Primitive Methodist presence but no Primitive Methodist Chapel.

Entry written by: DHR
Category: Place
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