In 1824 Watlington Wesleyan Methodist Circuit was formed from the large Oxfordshire Circuit, then in 1843 Thame became a separate circuit, which incorporated chapels from the northern part of the Watlington Circuit (namely Thame, Haddenham, Long Crendon, Brill, Bledlow and Shabbington).
This Thame Circuit was abolished, when in 1905 the circuits of Abingdon, Oxford, Thame, Wantage and Watlington amalgamated in an extensive re-organisation. From this date the churches at both Thame and Watlington were part of the Oxford (East) Circuit. Finally, in 1934 Thame and Watlington Methodist Circuit came into existence, with the church at Thame as its head. In 1972 Thame Methodist Church joined with the Congregationalists to become the United Church in Thame. Some of the chapels whose records appear in this collection were part of Chinnor Primitive Methodist Circuit. This circuit disappeared at the time of Methodist Union in 1932, and its component chapels became part of the new Thame and Watlington Circuit.
Thame and Watlington Methodist Circuit contained chapels in Buckinghamshire as well as Oxfordshire, some of which have since closed. The Thame and Watlington Methodist Circuit ceased in around 2010 and the surviving chapels were divided amongst the Oxford Methodist Circuit and The Vale of Aylesbury Methodist Circuit.
The catalogue is arranged in the following sections:
NM3/A: Watlington Wesleyan Circuit
NM3/B: Thame Wesleyan Circuit
NM3/C: Oxford Wesleyan Circuit
NM3/D: Thame and Watlington Circuit
NM3/1: Bledlow Chapel
NM3/2: Brill Chapel
NM3/3: Britwell Salome Chapel
NM3/4: Chalgrove Chapel
NM3/5: Chinnor Chapel
NM3/6: Christmas Common Chapel
NM3/7: Drayton St.Leonard Chapel
NM3/8: Ewelme Chapel
NM3/9: Haddenham Chapel
NM3/10 Kingston Blount Chapel
NM3/11: Long Crendon Wesleyan Chapel
NM3/12: Long Crendon Primitive Chapel
NM3/13: Great Milton Chapel
NM3/14: Little Milton Chapel
NM3/15: Moreton (Thame) Chapel
NM3/16: Russells Water Chapel
NM3/17: Shabbington Chapel
NM3/18: Swyncombe (Park Corner) Chapel
NM3/19: Sydenham Chapel
NM3/20: Thame Chapel
NM3/21: Turville Heath Chapel
NM3/22: Warborough Chapel
NM3/23: Watlington Wesleyan Chapel
NM3/24: South Weston Chapel
NM3/25: Cuddington Chapel
NM3/26: Watlington Primitive Chapel
NM3/27: East Street Chapel, Thame
The documents in this collection include property deeds, baptism registers, circuit plans, minute books, accounts, membership registers, class books, Sunday School records, newsletters, and papers re the closure of chapels.
They were deposited at various times; the main bulks, accessions 2796 and 4422, were received in 1988 and 1998, the rest, accessions 2227 and 2642 (circuit plans only) in 1979 and 1987 respectively. Other Thame and Watlington material was deposited as Acc 1107 and formerly listed under the reference codes T and W. Chalgrove Wesleyan Methodist Church material has also been included in this catalogue. These records were deposited as Acc 1391, 1553 and 2267 and were originally catalogued as CWMC.
The records of Chinnor Primitive Methodist Circuit, Acc 1440, were originally catalogued as CPMC and have also been included in this catalogue. Further material was deposited as Acc 5083 in January 2003, Acc 5393 in May 2005, Acc 5975 in October 2010, part of Acc 6127 in September 2012, Acc 6497 in August 2016 and Acc 6591 in June 2017. A concordance at the back of this catalogue indicates the new references for the relevant documents.
Catalogued by Mark Priddey, December 1998. Additional material catalogued by Alison Smith in October 2009 and July 2017 and January 2018.