Methodism and the Stobert Brothers

The story of Methodism in Ponteland is a long one. It began in the early years of the 19th century with the two Stobert brothers from Horsley moving here and taking over a mill and a farm. They introduced Methodism into the village and began to hold services in the blacksmiths until around 1827 this was exchanged for the schoolroom (now Brunton Estate Agents).

In 1839, the Rev. Joseph Fowler came to Newcastle to be the first superintendent minister for the district. On his first visit to Ponteland to preach here, the crowds were so large that the school could not accommodate everyone and the doors and the windows had to be left open so those outside could hear his sermon. At the close of the service, he encouraged the participants to set about building a chapel.

The congregation were able to secure a plot of land close to the village just across the bridge at the end of Callerton Lane. One of the principle fund raisers was Henry Stobert one of the original two brothers, referred to above. Plans were prepared and local farmers and tradesmen offered to transport the stone required for building the church. Henry Stobert, was one of the first, going to the quarry at four o’clock in the morning to carry the first load. His son James would go on to become a pillar of the Methodist community in the village. The new chapel was opened on Good Friday 1841, an event commemorated in a date plaque on the outside of the current chapel. Old photographs show the original chapel to be a simple single-storey stone building with an entrance porch facing the road. It was a typical Methodist chapel of this time and could accommodate about a hundred worshipers. It served the Methodists in Ponteland for 66 years.

By the beginning of the 20th century Ponteland was expanding and the old chapel was no longer large enough. It was demolished and the current building erected on the site by Henderson and Son, a local building firm in 1907. The architect was J. W. Taylor from Newcastle who built many of the Wesleyan chapels in the North East. It was much larger than the building it replaced and was designed to accommodate 350 worshipers.

The building was extended in 1927 with a suite of rooms consisting of a lecture hall, minister’s vestry, choir vestry, a kitchen and toilets. It was again expanded in 1956 with the addition of a church hall and a suite of meeting rooms, one of them dedicated to the memory of the Stobert family who were so closely connected with the church in Ponteland.