Earlsdon Methodist Church, Coventry

How Methodism came to
Earlsdon.
WILL the young people try to visualise Earlsdon
as it was sixty years ago ? There was no
Albany Road and no direct thoroughfare,
but one must needs come by Hearsall Common
or the Warwick Road and cross Stivichall Common
by a very rough and dirty road ; or approach it
by the Six Fields, which ended at the entrance of
Stivichall Common into quite a lovely and rural
lane, bounded by hedge-rows and tall and stately
elms. This lane was cut off from the common
by a gate at which an old man stood, and earned
odd pennies by opening and shutting. It is now
called Earlsdon Avenue South.

Another way from Coventry was up a dreary
Jetty near the present Albany Road. In winter
this jetty was quite dangerous, as part of the way
an open brook ran on one side, and further on
was a high hedge intersected with old hollow oak
trees, where boys and men concealed themselves
and frightened pedestrians - especially the weaker
sex.

The streets of the village were Arden Street,
Clarendon Street, Moor Street, Earlsdon Street,
Warwick Street, Providence Street and Cromwell
Street. That which is now the Terrace was a
lovely open lane ; the gardens which now front
the houses in the Terrace have been annexed from
the lane, and here the boys and young men and
sometimes the young women, played games of
a mild or rough character.

Earlsdon then was outside the City boundary,
but the citizens of Coventry thought it a lovely
walk on a summer's evening to Earlsdon. And so
it was, and the young people thought so too, and
often got lost.

There was no gas or electric light and no street
lamps. Candles and small oil lamps only were
used.

Well that is an outline of lovely Earlsdon as
it was 60 years ago, but I must hasten on to tell
how Methodism came to Earlsdon.

Well, during the Superintendency of the Rev.
J. B. James, in 1873, he and his colleagues (Revs.
Daniel Eyre, W. H. Weatherill and S. J. Burrell),
with several earnest, godly men, thought it would
be a good opening for the extension of the Meth-
odist Church. I may not be able to recall all the
names of these men, but God has their names in
His record and they will not die. They were Mr.
Flemons, Mr. G. Hodkinson and Mr. Hockey
(superintendent of the Sunday School at Warwick
Lane), to whom I owe a lasting debt of gratitude.
A meeting was held and it was decided to begin
but how ?
I

Well we took an old and derelict ribbon factory
in Cromwell Street at the back of the three-storey
houses on the right-hand side (now demolished).
We put it in as neat a condition as we could and
invited the neighbours and inhabitants of Earlsdon
to a Sunday opening, having secured the services
of the Minister of St. Michael's Baptist Chapel
(Rev. T. Roseveare) to preach. He took for his
text Matthew 9 and part of the 36th verse : "And
were scattered abroad as sheep, having no shep-
herd."

POSTSCRIPT.
The foregoing lecture was delivered
to the Earlsdon Wesley Guild on
September 17th, 1930, and, at the
instigation of the Rev. J. Parry
Brooks, is published as a booklet.
Thus the history of our Church by
a contemporary of its early days
is permanently preserved.

___________________
Proceeds from the sale of this booklet
are in aid of the Bazaar funds.