What Exactly Is A Circuit?

[racing girl]

I have relatives possibly baptised in the Ely Wesleyan Circuit (Cambridgeshire), and I'm trying to understand what a "Circuit" is. Is it a bit like a Parish, and if so, was it likely to have it's own chapel?

Thanks,
Brenda

[michaelpipe]

Google for "Ely Wesleyan Circuit" . First one that comes up has some explanation.

The circuit is a geographical group of several chapels/parishes.

Michael

[Peter Goodey]

http://www.ely.org.uk/churchdirectory.html

There are eight Methodist Churches in the Ely Circuit...


Ely Methodist Church, Chapel Street , Ely-
St. Johns Methodist Church, Littleport -
Haddenham Methodist Church
Sutton Methodist Church
Pymoor Methodist Church
Stretham (united with St James' Parish Church)
Coveney Methodist Church
Little Downham Methodist Church


That's the position today, of course. You'll have to check what chapels were operating in the period you're interested in.

[Sandyhall]

I have relatives possibly baptised in the Ely Wesleyan Circuit (Cambridgeshire), and I'm trying to understand what a "Circuit" is. Is it a bit like a Parish, and if so, was it likely to have it's own chapel?

Thanks,
Brenda

Sometimes in the small villages they wouldn't have a church or anywhere to go to worship in, get christened or married etc, so the Minister would travel around on his horse in a Circuit visiting each village in turn, holding his meeting anywhere he could, be it a Farmers Barn, a room in a Inn or Public House or in the summer in the farmers field anywhere he could. Once he'd been round all of them in turn he would then start again, continually going around them all again and again.
This still happens today except it doesn't take months to do, the ministers usually take 2 or 3 services on a Sunday.

Sandy

[racing girl]

Interesting replies! Thanks for the explanation Sandy, makes sense when you think about it!

The link Michael provided was also useful, but I noticed that in all the records listed, there were no marriages. Does anyone know why this is? Would marriages have to be in an Anglican/Catholic church in order to be legal? I remember reading that Quakers were allowed to keep their own records, including marriages, because their record keeping was so good, but I'm not sure about other non-conformist religions.

The period I'm interested in is about 1800 - 1820, maybe my couple in question married in a regular church and then converted later, I know some of their children were christened Wesleyan, but I'm not sure if they all were.

Thanks,
Brenda

[Peter Goodey]

From 1754 to 1837, by law, marriages could only be carried out in a parish (ie Anglican) church.

[racing girl]

Excellent, thanks for that Peter, at least I now know to concentrate on the usual sources in order to find the marriage, narrows it down somewhat!

Brenda

[Kerrywood]

From 1754 to 1837, by law, marriages could only be carried out in a parish (ie Anglican) church.

Just as a point of information, Quaker and Jewish marriages were recognised by law between 1754 and 1837, but these were the only two such dispensations. Record-keeping by these two groups was generally acknowledged to be superior to that of many other nonconformist communities.

Pre-1837 records do indicate that marriage ceremonies were performed in some nonconformist venues, particularly Catholic, but these were not recognised by law.

Kerrywood

[racing girl]

Thanks for the additional info Kerry, I did recall reading an article in a genealogy magazine about the Quakers being allowed to conduct their own wedding ceremonies, but I couldn't put my hands on it to verify it at the time.

Brenda