Upperby Methodist Church

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, 1st visited Keswick in 1749, as he travelled E from Whitehaven. There is no record that he preached there at that time, nor at any other time. Wesleyan Methodism in Keswick started towards the end of the eighteenth century, meeting in houses or hired rooms to start with. Influential in this early period was a Penrith saddler, Robert Gates. Keswick was having regular services by 1806, when it was featured on the Brough Circuit Plan. The 1st chapel was founded in 1814 in a tiny yard off Main Street at a cost of 331 10s.