After searchings of heart regarding the lean condition of their Zion in 1836, and having sought counsel of the Lord, the members and officials held "travelling prayer meetings" in the open-air. A great awakening followed, and in eight weeks the society rose from forty to one hundred and forty members. What the influence of that work of grace was on the lives of thoughtless and in some instances godless young men was illustrated in the heroic death of William Collinson, who was killed in a mine, and whose brother, the well-known Joseph Collinson, of Frosterley, was converted in the same revival. Just before the accident, William saw the danger, and, quick as thought, urged his mate to spring for his life, crying: "You are not saved!" The man had no sooner left the spot than Collinson was killed, yielding the one chance of life to the man he thought not fit to die.
The revival of 1867 had such a commanding hold upon Middleton that services were held simultaneously in the Wesleyan and Primitive chapels, and two hundred souls professed conversion.
‘Northern Primitive Methodism’ by W M Patterson, published 1909, page 111.
Location unknown. There was also a revival in 1867.