Primitive Methodism amongst the Scarborough Filey and Flamborough fishing communities
Primitive Methodism was very popular aongst the seaside villages and ranter preachers came down the coast preaching to the fishermen. This is an taken from "The Journals of William Clowes: A Primitive Methodist Preacher" in 1844. He obviously had an effect on them because a Filey fishing boat was named after him.
...and then I went on to Bridlington quay, and to Flamborough. At Bollington I spoke in a large room, quite full. At Bridlington the place was crowded to excess; three souls were saved, and very soon we had thirty members. At Flamborough I preached again, and two souls were saved. I went up to the top of the lighthouse, which commands a noble view of the ocean, and the surrounding country, I held a prayer meeting with the family of the lighthouse keeper, and departed.
The next time I preached at Flamborough, three souls found peace, and five more joined society in the neighbourhood...
From the Hull quarterly meeting of December, 1820, I proceeded on a mission to Scarborough, and the towns and villages in that vicinity. To Scarborough Brother J. Coulson accompanied me : when we got into the town the news of our arrival quickly circulated among great numbers of the people. One person had dreamed the night before, that he saw two " Ranters' preachers," going up the streets of Scarborough, with an intention to preach the gospel. This individual published his dream to his friends and others, and they assembled together, and it was decided I should preach in the evening, while Brother Coulson preached at another place. We accordingly repaired to a school-room, which was filled to overflowing; and I lifted up my voice for the first time in Scarborough, in the name of the Jehovah of Hosts. The next morning I spoke twice in the school-room, and once abroad : the gathering of the people was large, and their conduct highly decorous. Several felt the convictions of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, and either two or three persons were brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. At the conclusion of another preaching service, I formed a society of seven members. The next time I preached was on the sands, close to the sea, to a prodigious mass of hearers ; many were powerfully moved to seek the Lord, and I joined ten more members to the society. The work now rolled on most gloriously, we very soon had a hundred members in church fellowship, and a new chapel erected. From Scarborough I pushed on to Whitby, and preached there for the first time in a school-house, the weather being unfavourable for preaching abroad. However, at three o'clock in the afternoon, I went to the market place, and stood up and preached to a large company; and notwithstanding it was very cold, the people remained immovable to the end of the service. Some of the baser sort endeavoured to create disturbance; however, I was honoured with the presence of the chief constable, who kept the sons of Belial at bay, and who was on my side this time; but it has been too frequently the case in my course, to see the magisterial authority enlisted on the side of the lawless mob, encouraged by those whose fears have led them to suppose that their craft was in danger. This constable having heard me preach in the open air, in the neighbourhood of York, whilst bringing prisoners to the castle, his heart was touched; and he then told me if I ever went to Whitby, his house should be open for me ; and now I found him as good as his word. He did not merely protect me, as every officer of police ought to protect the ministers of religion in the exercise of their function, but made me welcome to his house and table.
I preached again in the New Market at nine o'clock, and although the rain fell, yet the people heard attentively ; in the afternoon the rain beat us off, so I preached in a large room, and in the after meeting one soul cried for deliverance. I now formed a society, and the work broke forth like the torrent of a mountain : in a short time we had upwards of one hundred in society, and a new chapel erected. At Cloughton I preached in a school-room, according to an arrangement made by a person who heard me in Scarborough and Mr. Ward, a school-master at the place. We had a large company ; many came through curiosity to hear the " strange man." We had a powerful meeting ; some fell to the ground, and the stir was great. The opinions of many respecting me were very extraordinary. Some declared I was drunk ; some said I was a fool, and others that I was a merryandrew. Some, however, did acknowledge that I was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for they felt it to be the power of God unto salvation.
At Cloughton, Mr. Ward, the school-master, was a class-leader among the Methodists, having about eight persons in his class. He was, however, wise in his generation, and became very active and diligent in gathering up the fruit after it had been plucked; for very shortly he had thirty members in his class, and he was very pressing for me to preach at Cloughton, whilst I did not form a society to preserve the fruits of my own labour. At Robin Hood's Bay I preached, and found the same person had spread the reports of me there as at Cloughton. I stood up in a house where three rooms opened into each other, and every corner was filled. I afterwards spoke again in the same place, and as many appeared desirous to flee from the wrath to come, I formed a society of twelve members; at this preaching, Brother Branfoot assisted me : it was in the open air. Brother Harland, who has since become a successful preacher among us, was present at this meeting, and he formed the resolution that he would never rest till he found the pearl of great price, which was not many days after. He then opened his school at Staintondale for preaching, and I preached in it a short time afterwards with blessed effect. Brother Harland set me on my way to Cloughton, and in conversation with him, I found him to be a young man of considerable information and kindness of disposition, and capable of doing much good in his day and generation.
OTHER ARTICLES
• Characters of the Filey fishing industry
• The history of the Scarborough fishing industry
• Ranter Chapel revival in Filey
• Losses amongst Filey fishing cobles
• Robin Hood's Bay - The Storm family website
• The history of Filey Lifeboats
• The Harwood and Bullamore fishing family history in Scarborough
• Thomas Hinderwell - history of Scarboroughs fisheries
• Scarborough fishermen and the U-Boats by Godfrey Arthur
• Filey and the gales of 1860,1867,1869 AND 1880
• Filey fishermen in 1862 - yawls and cobles
• Church first and Church last - Filey methodists and St Oswald's
• A common ancestry - The Filey Jenkinsons
• The 200 year history of scarboroughs RNLI
• Sailors graves on the Scarborough coastline.
• Flamborough Head - ancient fishing village
• The character of a fisherman
• The Womens work in the Filey fishing industry
• The fishermen and fisheries of Robin Hood's Bay in 1838