Around 1860 a series of revivalist meeting were held in cottages in the village. At these meetings a number of men, who were mainly employed at the Heddon Pit were converted. One of the men who attended these meetings was John Snowden, who was employed as a Brakesman on the Winding Engine, and lived in Heddon Square with his 16 children.
Eventually the meetings in cottages became too cramped and this led to the building of the Chapel, in 1877, John Snowden being one of the instigators of this development.