The history of Weardale is largely the history of Methodism and to appreciate and understand the people living in this valley one must know something of the beginnings of that movement which shook England and brought into being the great Methodist Church.

Right down from those times the chief formative influence in the dales folk has been the "Chapel", and to think of them apart from this influencing power is to miss the inner meaning of the life of the community. They are a people of great individuality - Scotch-like in their reserve, but also like them in this respect that, once having opened their hearts to one, the warmth and depth of their affection is something at the remembrance of which the heart glows and the eyes grow dim. Naturally a people of this description is capable of great extremes; they are either great saints or great sinners. There have been periods of religious deadness in their history and on the other hand of such spiritual life as has been little known in other parts of England. Great revivals of religion were experienced, and at such times scores would be added to the "societies", these converts in most cases becoming stalwart Christians.

In the earlier portions of Wesley's Journal there are references to these times of deadness, but in the fourth volume there are passages which show what a change had been wrought in the lives of the dales people by the Power of God. "We found the people in Weardale, as usual, some of the liveliest in the kingdom; knowing nothing and desiring to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." (Volume IV. Page 182. Everyman Edition).

He speaks more than once of the "horrid" mountains over which he had to ride to reach Wearhead, but once having overcome the obstacles in his path and reached the top, he is constrained to break forth into praise of the valley below.

When nearing the end of his long life, he states in his quaint fashion how in two respects the society of believers in Wearhead had been remarkable; "the one, they have been most liberal in providing everything needful for the Preacher; the other, they have been particularly careful with regard to marriage". (Vol. 3. Page 475. Everyman Edition). He goes on to say that it was usual for the young people of the "society" to find their partners within its borders; as a consequence the marriages were usually happy and the children of such unions were in their early years surrounded by holy influences so that, "to several among them one may say, (as St. Paul to Timothy) the Faith which dwelt first in thy grandmother, and thy mother, I am persuaded is in thee also."

Such was the parentage of him of whom we shall write, and as his story is unfolded it will be seen how deeply his roots entered into the soil of the Dale, and how truly he was the fine fruit of all those gentle and yet potent forces which had moulded him from his birth.