Methodist Chapel
On 28 May 1760, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, visited Rathfriland and preached in a meadow near to the town. He tells in his diary that the Presbyterian Minister had written to the Roman Catholic Priest asking him to exhort his people to keep away from the meeting, but they could not be kept away. Protestant and Catholic flocked to hear him. He again visited Rathfriland on 12 June 1787, when he preached in First Rathfriland Presbyterian Church on the invitation of the Minister, the Reverend Samuel Barber.
He further states in his diary:” The country was uncommonly pleasant, running between two high ridges of mountains, but it was uphill and down all the way, so that we did not reach Rathfriland till near noon. Mr Barber, the Presbyterian Minister (a princely personage, I believe six feet two and a half high) offering me his spacious new preaching house, the congregation quickly gathered together.”
Wesley again visited Rathfriland for the third and last time on 11 June, 1789 and preached again in Mr Barber‘s Church, his text being from Proverbs 3, verse 17, “Her ways are the ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace.” He was then a very old and worn man, being 86 years of age.
We hear nothing further about Methodism in Rathfriland until the year 1831. On 5 September of that year David Allen, of Rathfriland, his son, and a Minister had a conference with General Meade at Burrenwood when they asked for a Deed or Lease before they would begin to build a meeting house for Methodists preaching. The General told them that they would undoubtedly get a lease when the building was completed, following inspection by Mr Brush, his agent, and he recommended them to place more confidence in mankind than they seemed to have.
They proceeded with the proposed plan, and the Methodist Chapel was open for worship in the following year. It was the upper portion of the building subsequently occupied in the 1920s by Mr Robert Harbinson, druggist, in Church Square and there was an inscription on a stone in front of the building “Methodist Chapel 1832”, now illegible. Regular services were held in the building until early in the 20th century after which The Rathfriland Silver Band used the premises for practice for many years.