Genealogy Forum UK

Hi,
researching my grandmothers line I found a number of my family recorded as Methodist and indeed have found quite a few buried in a Methodist chapel in Lancashire.

As I am new to this I went along to County records in Preston to find they only keep Church of England baptism, marriage and burial records. Then drove to the said chapel to find it closed.

When I called the number on a notice board the person I spoke to said they kept no records. (Also the website said the original church had been lost to fire in the 1950's and a rebuilt modern one was in it's place. I did find the burials though in the churchyard which was interesting!)

So when next in London I dropped into the HQ of the Methodist church in Westminster and asked around but no one could help me.

So does anyone know if the Methodist church has kept it's records from the 1800's and before (given Methodism was quite new then)? If so where are they and can you access them? Their website seems t give no indication either from what I can see.

Thanks

Looking at the Lancashire Record Office web site

https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries ... ers-guide/

Non-Conformist
This handlist, in alphabetical order of place, includes the main sources for tracing your ancestors in Non-Conformist records.

Lancashire Archives holds original records of Non-Conformist churches in the post-1974 county of Lancashire, including Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool.

In 1837 most existing Non-Conformist registers were deposited in Somerset House in London and later transferred to the Public Record Office (now The National Archives) where they are still held. Lancashire Archives has microfilm copies of these registers which are included in this handlist (reference MF 1). A few pre-1837 registers failed to reach London, or were copied before they were sent, and these have, in some cases, been deposited at Lancashire Archives.

Church list:
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U W Y
Non-Lancashire

When you click on P in the Church List you'll see plenty of records for Preston, but may be not for the years you are searching.

Have you tried this web site https://www.lan-opc.org.uk/ On left hand side click on Search, second paragraph down on this page "You may click here ....."

Also https://www.freereg.org.uk/

Many thanks. I am not sure why I did not pick that up on my visit to Preston but this will get me back on the trail, which is partly why we do it!