Methodism in Nidderdale has a long and eventful history. 

The pioneer of Methodism in Nidderdale was Thomas Lee, a worsted weaver from Addingham who was one of the first Methodist preachers.  He came to Nidderdale in 1749 and 1750, preaching the evangelical faith.  Although Methodism was, at that time, still a movement within the Church of England, Lee received a hostile reception from the Dale's Anglican clergy - particularly the curate at Pateley Bridge, who denounced Methodists as 'false prophets' and, Lee recorded, encouraged the mob who showered him with stones, mud and punches on his early visits. 

Although there were some who remained hostile to Lee (he records jumping out of the bedroom window of a house where he was preaching to escape a mob in 1753), the new movement also attracted support. 

By 1764, there were five Methodist meeting houses in Nidderdale, and the class meetings quickly increased in number.   It was at about this time that Nidderdale became part of the Keighley circuit, which also included Wharfedale and Upper Airedale and whose minister was based at Otley. 

John Wesley paid close attention to the growth of Methodism in Nidderdale, although he did not visit personally until 24 July 1766.  His journal for that date records, "I preached at Pateley Bridge, such a congregation for number and seriousness I have not seen since we left Newcastle.  As it rained all the time, I desired the men to put on their hats, but in two or three minutes they pulled them off again, and seemed to mind nothing but how they might know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Inclement weather seems to have been a feature of Wesley's visits: after his second visit in 1770, he recorded in his journal, "It rained as usual all the time, but the congregation stood as still as the trees, and God did satisfy the hungry with good things, many of whom have given Him all their hearts."  Wesley also visited in 1772 and 1774. 

In 1776, a chapel was opened in Pateley Bridge.  By the time Wesley came again in 1780, to his delight neither this chapel nor St Mary's Church could hold all those who wished to hear him: "How vast is the increase in the work of God, particularly in the most rugged and uncultivated places!" he remarked in his journal. 

John Wesley visited Pateley Bridge again in 1782, preaching in the chapel, and also in 1788 when, at the age of 85, he left at 4.00 on the morning after he preached, and reached Kendal (some sixty miles away) the same day. 

In 1790, chapels were built at Lofthouse and Kettlesing; fourteen societies were meeting in Nidderdale at that time.  Also in this year, the Keighley circuit was divided and Nidderdale became part of the Otley circuit.  Another chapel was built in 1793, this time at Killinghall in the Ripon circuit. 

By the time Methodism separated formally from the Church of England in 1795, Methodism was accepted in Nidderdale, and preachers no longer ran the risk of being pelted with stones or dumped into the river.  Methodism continued to grow in Nidderdale, and the Pateley Bridge circuit was formed in 1811; it had two ministers, fourteen societies, and over 350 members.  By 1816, this had increased to 587 members, and by the end of 1839 there were over a thousand Wesleyan Methodists in twenty-seven societies and attending seventeen chapels across the Pateley Bridge Wesleyan circuit. 

There were also a number of Primitive Methodist societies: when the Pateley Bridge Primitive Methodist circuit was formed in 1839, it had two ministers and its nineteen societies had a total of over two hundred members.   

In 1851, over 60% of the churchgoers in Nidderdale were Methodist.  Each Sunday, the Wesleyans held thirty-three services across seventeen chapels, and the Primitives fourteen services across seven chapels.  Services took place at eleven additional locations fortnightly or monthly.  All this placed considerable responsibility on those laypeople who served as stewards, trustees, class leaders, Sunday school teachers and local preachers.  More chapels continued to be built through the second half of the nineteenth century, and other rebuilt and refurbished. 

Changes in the local economy and the disruption caused by World War I brought decline in the numbers attending the chapels.  The union of the different branches of Methodism in 1932 also meant that some chapels became redundant as congregations joined together. 

Throughout the twentieth century, the numbers attending Methodist services in Nidderdale declined, and many of the chapels closed - a pattern found all across England.  Today, just seven chapels remain in use, including the successor of the first Methodist chapel in Nidderdale built in Pateley Bridge in 1796. 

You can find out more about the history of Methodism here.