Kirkby-in-Furness
Methodist Church

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John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist tradition, may have been in the area in 1752. More certainly, he passed through the village in May 1759 on his way up the Cumbrian Coast, crossing the Duddon Estuary to Millom. It does not appear to have been his happiest journey, writing in his journal that `The tides caused great difficulties'. Nor was he impressed with the local inhabitants, describing the people of Furness as `a generation of liars'.

However, this does not seem to have limited the spread of Methodism in South Cumbria ¹. In 1810 Ulverston Wesleyan Methodist Circuit ²   was established and by 1823 there were regular services listed for `Kirby'. Even so, the place of worship for the local Methodists varied during the first half of the Nineteenth Century. In 1852 services were being held a mile to the north, in the hamlet of Grizebeck, but in 1855 the meetings returned to Kirkby. A year later, `Marshside' was listed as having 5 members, many fewer than more established congregations at Ulverston (112), Backbarrow (70) and Spark Bridge (19), but more than Barrow (2), then just a small village, but soon to be the centre of the economic boom which affected the whole of the Furness peninsula.

One explanation for the presence of Methodism in the area is that it was brought by immigrants, drawn by the expanding mines and new ironworks. The main industry in Kirkby was the slate quarry on the moors above the village and it is certainly possible that workers from existing Methodist strongholds of Cornwall or Wales could have had  an influence. However since records show a strong prevalence of established local names working in the quarry, this is at best unconfirmed.

In 1861 there was a proposal in the minutes of the Ulverston Wesleyan Circuit's Quarterly meeting `to build a chapel at Kirby'. It took another nine years to lay the first stone, but on 21st April 1870 `The cases of the new chapels at Askam, Kirby and Lindal were considered and passed'. Less than two months later on 2nd June, the foundation stone was laid by Mr John Long, a stalwart of the Ulverston Circuit. An extensive report in one local paper commented that `The followers of Wesley living in this locality have hitherto held their services in a cottage near the site of the new building, but increasing numbers and earnestness at last warranted and effort being made to procure a more suitable place of meeting'. 

The new chapel was designed to seat 200-250 people and cost £400-500. Of this £100 and the land was given by the Duke of Devonshire. Cumbrian materials were used, including sandstone from St. Bees, further up the coast. The slate for the walls and the roof  was moved from the quarry to the building site for nothing by the local farmers. 
For the next twenty years the chapel continued to grow. By 1892, when the Millom Wesley Circuit was divided from the Ulverston, taking Kirkby with it, membership at Marshside had risen from 8 to 24 with a further 10 on probation. Nor was the building work finished. In 1905 a schoolroom was added to the chapel. The Barrow News reported: `At present all meetings, other than those of a sacred nature, Sunday School, parties etc, have to be held in the chapel, which is considered unfitting, consequently it was decided to add a room suitable for such purposes.' The local MP, Victor Cavendish, who was from the family that owned the quarry, provided all the necessary stone for free.

In 1932 the three main strands of Methodism, Wesleyan, Primitive and Bible Christian, merged to form the present Methodist Church . Kirkby remained part of the Millom Methodist circuit, now expanded from six to ten churches. For the rest of the 1930s, Kirkby maintained a healthy membership of around 40  holding both morning and evening services. However, the congregation did not escape the economic problems of the decade. Between 1934 and 1940 Kirkby's contribution to the Millom Circuit's finances halved. By 1938 the Circuit had accumulated a debt of £88, a sharp contrast to the positive balance of funds that existed when it was formed in 1932. 

Churches also began to close. By 1945 three of the Millom Circuit's ten churches had held their last service and when it was incorporated with Barrow in 1980 to form the South West Cumbria Circuit (SWECC) there were only four left. Kirkby, however, had survived and today has a small but steady membership, maintaining a Christian presence through the Methodist tradition in the Marshside area of Kirkby.