Wesley's Chapel is a Methodist church in the southern part of the London Borough of Islington. Opened in 1778, it was built under the direction of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement. The site is a place of worship and visitor attraction, incorporating the Museum of Methodism in its crypt and John Wesley's House next to the chapel. The chapel has been called "The Mother Church of World Methodism". 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.
History and architecture
The chapel, in the St Luke's area, opened in 1778 to replace John Wesley's earlier London chapel, the Foundery, where he first preached on 11 November 1739. 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 from across the Connexion 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, and the builder was Samuel Tooth, a member of the Foundery society. The chapel was formally opened with a service on 1 November 1778. preaching in the City Road Chapel. Engraving by T. Blood, 1822. The building has Grade I listed status and is a fine example of Georgian architecture, although it has been altered and improved since it was built. Memorials and plaques commemorating eminent Methodists have been installed, and the original plain windows were replaced with stained glass. In 1864, the gallery was modernised, its front lowered and raked seating installed. Around the gallery is motif in relief supposedly designed by Wesley: a dove with an olive branch in its beak encircled by a serpent following its own tail. The Adam style ceiling was replaced by a replica following a fire in 1879. Another major refurbishment of 1891 was carried out by Holloway Brothers, collaborating with the Methodist architect William Willmer Pocock. The foundations were reinforced, the apse windows were enlarged to accommodate the stained glass, and new pews were installed. The pillars supporting the gallery were originally ships' masts donated by King George III, but these were replaced by French jasper pillars donated from Methodist churches overseas. Only the top section of the original three-decker pulpit survives. 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. The location of the sanctuary in an apse behind the pulpit was common in the 'auditory' churches of the 18th century, but few other examples survive today. The present sanctuary in front of the pulpit dates from restoration work in the 1970s. Among other alterations, the foundations were again strengthened due to subsistence and the roof was replaced. The chapel was reopened on 1 November 1978, by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The present communion rail was a gift in 1993 from former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was married in the chapel in 1951. The first woman to preach in Wesley's Chapel was Agnes Elizabeth Slack, in 1926.
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
John Wesley's House, a mid-Georgiantownhouse, was built in 1779 at the same time as the chapel. 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.
Courtyard, gardens and cemetery
At the front of Wesley's 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. 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 rather than fancy wallpaper. 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. 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.
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.
The Leysian Mission
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 1904 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.
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, the "warmed heart" contemplative space", Thomas Coke's writing slope or desk and Donald Soper's portable preaching stand. 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.
