Wesley's Chapel

Wesley's Chapel
Wesley's Chapel and Leysian Mission
Wesley's Chapel
Location 49 City Road, Shoreditch, London
Country United Kingdom
Denomination Methodist Church of Great Britain
Website www.wesleyschapel.org.uk
History
Founded 1778
Founder(s) John Wesley
Dedicated 1778
Architecture
Architect(s) George Dance the Younger
Style Georgian architecture
Administration
Division Wesley's Chapel Circuit
Clergy
Minister(s) The Revd Dr Jennifer Smith

Coordinates: 51°31′25″N 0°5′13″W / 51.52361°N 0.08694°W / 51.52361; -0.08694

Wesley's Chapel (originally the City Road Chapel) is a Methodist church in London that was built under the direction of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement. It is now a place of worship and visitor attraction, incorporating the Museum of Methodism in its crypt and John Wesley's House next to the chapel.

Along with the associated Leysian Mission, Wesley's Chapel is a circuit of the London District of the Methodist Church. The chapel has an average Sunday service attendance of about 440.[1]

History and architecture

The chapel opened in 1778 to replace John Wesley's earlier London chapel, the Foundery,[2] where he first preached on 11 November 1739.[3] In 1776 Wesley applied to the City of London for a site to build his new chapel and was granted an area of land on City Road. After raising funds the foundation stone for the chapel was laid on 21 April 1777. The architect was George Dance the Younger, surveyor to the City of London.

The first woman to preach in Wesley's Chapel was Agnes Elizabeth Slack, in 1926.[4]

Wesley's chapel, with courtyard and statue

The building has Grade I listed status and is a fine example of Georgian architecture[5] although it has been altered and improved since it was built. In 1864 the gallery was modernised, its front lowered and raked seating installed. The original pillars supporting it were ships' masts donated by King George III but in 1891 they were replaced by French jasper pillars donated from Methodist churches overseas.[2] Stained glass is a later addition. An organ was installed in 1882 and the present organ in 1891. It was electrified in 1905 and in 1938 its pipes were moved to their present position at the rear of the gallery.[6] The communion rail was a gift from former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,[7] who was married in the chapel in 1951.[8]

The site

The chapel is set within a cobbled courtyard off City Road, with the chapel at the furthest end and Wesley's house on the right.

John Wesley's house

Exterior of the house

John Wesley's House, a rare example of an early Georgian townhouse, was built in 1779 at the same time as the chapel.[9] . It was Wesley's residence for the last eleven years of his life. He is commemorated by a blue plaque on the City Road frontage. This Grade I listed building is open to visitors as a historic house museum. It was built by Wesley and designed by George Dance the younger, at that time the surveyor of the City of London.

Wesley lived in the house for the last twelve years of his life and died in his bedroom. The house was also used to accommodate travelling preachers and their families. The household servants also lived on the premises. The house continued to be used for travelling preachers after Wesley's death until it was turned into a museum in the 1900s.

In the dining room his Chamber Horse is set up which he used for exercise; on display in the study is his electric machine which was used for the treatment of illness.[10]

At the front of the house is a small physic garden which contains herbs mentioned in Wesley's book, The Primitive Physic. It details ways in which common people could cure themselves using natural medicines as they couldn't afford a doctor. Wesley set up the first free dispensary in London giving out medical advice and remedies at his Foundery chapel.

John Wesley's Physic Garden

The house is dressed with period furniture which shows what it would have been like when Wesley lived and died there, although the house would have mostly been painted in French grey rather than fancy wallpaper.

The cemetery

Wesley died on 2 March 1791. His tomb is in the garden at the rear of the chapel alongside the graves of six of his preachers, and those of his sister Martha Hall and his doctor and biographer, Dr John Whitehead.[11]

Statue by John Adams-Acton

John Wesley's statue

A bronze statue of Wesley with the inscription "the world is my parish" stands at the entrance to the courtyard; created in 1891 by John Adams-Acton, the sculpture is Grade II listed.[12]

Victorian lavatory

The site also houses one of the few surviving examples of a gentleman's convenience built by the sanitary engineer Thomas Crapper in 1891, and restored in 1972.

Museum of Methodism

Museum of Methodism in the chapel's crypt

The Museum of Methodism, housed in the chapel's crypt, contains artefacts and relics relating to Methodism, including several of Wesley's speeches and essays on theology.[13] The museum was created in 1978 and was refurbished in 2014, with the last case being installed in early 2016 thanks to a generous donation.

The Leysian Mission

Leysian Mission building, City Road

The Leys School was opened in Cambridge in 1875, two years after non-Anglicans were admitted to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It was intended to be "the Methodist Eton". Dr William Fiddian Moulton, a biblical scholar and church leader, was its first headmaster.

The mission was started, in nearby Whitecross Street, in 1886, by former pupils of the school who were concerned about the social and housing conditions in the East End of London. In 1902 the mission moved into purpose-built premises in Old Street, very near Wesley’s Chapel. It provided a medical mission, a "poor man’s lawyer", a relief committee, feeding programmes, meetings for men and women, and a range of services and musical activities.

After World War II and the arrival of the welfare state the mission disposed of the buildings. Strong links with the school remain and a scholarship allows a number of children from the city of London to attend the school as boarders. Wesley’s Chapel and the mission merged on Easter Day 1989.[14]

The chapel today

John Wesley's Communion table beneath stained glass windows

The chapel is home to a multicultural congregation with a membership of 439.[1] It is a working church with daily prayer, Sunday Holy Communion services and several weekday services. It is known for its relatively "high church" sacramental liturgy. The superintendent minister is Jennifer Smith.

Wesley's Chapel is in a Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP) with St Giles' Cripplegate, its Anglican neighbour and shares close relationships with St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, St Anne's Lutheran Church and the Friends meeting house at Bunhill Fields. It has meeting rooms for other activities.[15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Circuit Membership Statistics Summary October 2012" (PDF). Statistics for Mission. Methodist Church in Britain. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  2. 1 2 "History: Wesley's Chapel". Wesley's Chapel & Leysian Mission. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "Wesley's Chapel - timeline". Museum of Methodism. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Maria Zina Gonçalves de Abreu (2 June 2014). Women Past and Present: Biographic and Multidisciplinary Studies. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 128–130. ISBN 978-1-4438-6114-4.
  5. ↑ Historic England. "Details from image database (368750)". Images of England. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
  6. ↑ "Organ". Wesley's Chapel & Leysian Mission. 2008. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  7. ↑ "Communion table and rail". RE:Quest. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  8. ↑ "Margaret Thatcher's red prime ministerial box sells for £242,500". BBC News. BBC. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  9. ↑ Stephen Inwood (28 June 2012). Historic London: An Explorer's Companion. Pan Macmillan. pp. 97–. ISBN 978-0-230-75252-8. It was also resolved to provide a separate residence for John Wesley, who had lived many years in an apartment above the Foundry. ... After living nearly forty years above the Foundry, John Wesley occupied his new home in 1779. Today, it is ...
  10. ↑ Johnstone, Lucy (2000). Users and Abusers of Psychiatry: A Critical Look at Psychiatric Practice. Routledge. p. 152. ISBN 0-415-21155-7.
  11. ↑ John Wesley at Find a Grave
  12. ↑ England, Historic. "Statue of John Wesley in the forecourt of Wesley's Chapel, Islington - 1195540". www.historicengland.org.uk. Historic England. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  13. ↑ "Museum of Methodism". Wesley's Chapel & Leysian Mission. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  14. ↑ "What is the Leysian Mission?" at wesleyschapel.org.uk
  15. ↑ "What is Wesley's Chapel?" at wesleyschapel.org.uk/

Further reading

  • George John Stevenson, City Road Chapel, London, and its Associations, Historical, Biographical, and Memorial (1872)
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