page_title: Westhoughton
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Westhoughton / Religion
caption_attribution_description: English: Stone now sited outside Westhoughton Methodist Church, from which John Wesley is said to have preached in April 1784.
context_page_description: Westhoughton is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is 4 miles southwest of Bolton, 5 miles east of Wigan and 13 miles northwest of Manchester.
  Historically in Lancashire, Westhoughton was once a centre for coal mining, cotton-spinning and textile manufacture. It had a population of 24,974 at the 2011 Census.
  Westhoughton incorporates several former villages and hamlets which have their own distinctive character, sports traditions and amenities, including Wingates, White Horse, Over Hulton, Four Gates, Chequerbent, Hunger Hill, Snydale, Hart Common, Marsh Brook, Daisy Hill and Dobb Brow.
context_section_description: Westhoughton's old chapel of 1552 was replaced by a brick-built church in 1731 and a third church, the parish church, was built in 1869–70. The church, dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, had an east window depicting the twelve apostles. On 28 November 1990 the church was gutted by fire, but the tower was saved and is Grade II listed as was a sundial in the churchyard which was stolen in 1992. A fourth church, designed by architect John Ashworth of Dane, Ashworth & Cottam, was built by Laing North West with Bradshaw Gass & Hope as project managers and structural engineers at a cost about £1 million. After the fire, services were held the parochial school and the church bought the town's redundant telephone exchange as church hall. The fourth church was consecrated on 28 October 1995 by the Right Reverend Christopher Mayfield, Bishop of Manchester. Nicholsons of Malvern built its two manual organ with 1,256 pipes, ranging from 1/2 inch to 16 feet (4.9 m) made of tin, spotted metal and hammered lead.
  Other Anglican churches include St John the Evangelist in Wingates, and Austin and Paley's St James' Church, Daisy Hill, a Grade II* listed building. The parish church had two daughter churches, St Thomas' Church at Chequerbent, and Hart Common Church. St Thomas' Church was demolished when the M61 motorway was built and the new St Thomas' School incorporated a church. Hart Common Church joined with the Methodist and URC Churches to establish an LEP and the old Hart Common Church was sold to the Hindley Christian Fellowship. St George's Church opened in 1996.
  The Roman Catholic community is served by Sacred Heart Parish Church. When the old church building fell into disrepair, it was demolished and replaced by a new building incorporating a church hall.
  John Wesley preached a sermon at Barnaby's Farm in Wingates in April 1784. Services were held in cottages opposite the farm which became known as 'Methody Row' before the first Methodist church was built in 1835. Another Methodist Church was built in Dixon Street in 1871. Houses occupy the site of Westhoughton Independent Methodist Church, where Wesley once stood, but the stone, from which he preached, was moved to Grove Lane Chapel, now Westhoughton Methodist Church's church hall. The final service was held by the Independent Methodist Church on 6 May 2001 and the church was subsequently demolished. Daisy Hill Methodist Church was closed and demolished in the late 1980s. The new, Methodist church was built adjacent to Grove Lane Chapel, which now serves as church hall.
  The industrial north west was a focus for non-conformism, and until the 1990s the Church of the Nazarene stood in Church Street. The Quaker Meeting House is now a Christian fellowship, and a tin tabernacle was situated off Bolton Road. There is a Pentecostal church, a United Reformed Church, 'The Bethel' and an independent church on Tithbarn Street.
caption: Stone from which John Wesley is said to have preached
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