No. 27 - Frankford Primitive Methodist Church - An Act of God?

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There is very little readily available information about the former Methodist chapel in Frankford, which is now a private dwelling. I am putting up this post nonetheless in the hope that someone has more information about it. It is yet another example of the many Primitive Methodist chapels established at this time and was built in 1886. Frankford was remote and roads were in very poor condition, which was typical of the rural communities that the Methodists penetrated. One minister reminisced that "the road to it is not so bad to-day, but its condition a few years ago was enough to put wrinkles on one's face".

A Sunday School was opened in the same year as the chapel with the Examiner reporting that “nearly every child within reach was present”. This spurred the Anglicans to establish a church, St Saviours in 1891. This will be covered in a separate blog entry.

Typical of rural churches, their history is comprised of the humdrum cycle of harvest and jubilee festivals, changing ministers and marriages and deaths. However, one intriguing story I found in the Examiner of 1938 was the report of an enormous storm which dislodged the building from its foundations and moved it a distance of 10ft. Surely not an act of God? It seems to have stayed permanently at its new home.

Although it is a very ordinary building, it is nonetheless listed on the heritage register because “it demonstrates the simple characteristics of a simple weatherboard Federation Carpenter Gothic building". And it is exactly that, an unpretentious chapel in keeping with a pleasant county village.

This blog entry will be updated when more information comes to hand.

Location: Link to google maps HERE





Sources

The Examiner  31 July 1941
Examiner 2 October 1886
Examiner 26 June 1886
The Examiner 15 September 1938
The Examiner 17 September 1913

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