At least one hundred more persons than the old church would hold now attend service at 11 a.m. and 300 more than it could have held attend at 6 p.m. A Service is also held on the 1st Sunday in every month at 3-15 p.m. at which children are catechised, and the Sacrament of Baptism administered.
At the Aqueduct Church, which was built in the year 1851, and enlarged in 1864, there is a service every Sunday evening, at which from 150 to 200 persons attend.
Ironbridge Church.
We are not so well informed with regard to the Church at Ironbridge. It was built in 1836, and consists of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a tower in which is a clock and one bell; it has a fine east window of stained glass, with full length figures of St. James and St. John. It will accommodate about a thousand hearers, but at present the number attending is small. In addition to the cost of the erection, which was defrayed chiefly by local subscriptions, £1000 was contributed towards the endowment by one firm, that of Madeley Wood; the great, or rectorial, tithes have since been added, and the rector receives an income of £250 per annum.
There are Sunday Schools and other institutions but we are without the precise information as to the amount of money raised. The population in the year 1871 was 3,605.
Coalbrookdale.
A beautiful little Church dedicated to the Holy Trinity was erected here by the munificence of the Darby family, who endowed it, and gave to the Incumbent a handsome house as a residence. It is in the Decorated Gothic style. It consists of nave, chancel, and aisles, and has a handsome tower, with illuminated clock, and a peal of eight fine-toned bells. It will accommodate 850 persons, and is generally well filled.
The number of communicants averages 60. The Sacrament is administered monthly, and on the usual festivals. The offerings for the poor are about £25 yearly; for the expenses of the Church, somewhere about £2 weekly, i.e., £104 annually. There is a good state of religious feeling.
Wesleyan Methodism.
In Mr. Fletcher’s day Wesleyan Methodism was but struggling into existence. Societies were formed at Madeley, Madeley Wood, Coalbrookdale, and other places in adjoining parishes, and Mr. Fletcher, and his curate subsequently, preached there alternately with the preachers of Mr. Wesley. These societies were attached to the Shrewsbury Circuit, and preachers came fortnightly, travelling on horseback. In or about the year 1764 we find him inviting the Rev. A. Mather, then an eminent preacher in Mr. Wesley’s connection, and his fellow labourer to call at the Bank, Coalbrookdale, and other places. He adds:—“And I hope, that my stepping, as Providence directs, to any of your places, (leaving to you the management of the Societies,) will be deemed no encroachment. In short, we need not make two parties: I know but one heaven below, and that is Jesus’s love; let us both go and abide in it, and when we have gathered as many as we can to go with us, too many will still stay behind.” May 27, 1766, he says to a friend, “The coming of Mr. Wesley’s Preachers into my parish gives me no uneasiness. As I am sensible that every body does better, and of course, is more acceptable than myself, I should be sorry to deprive any one of a blessing; and I rejoice that the work of God goes on by any instrument or in any place.”