Wesley's New Room, Bristol
Statue of John Wesley on horseback. Photo
Chris Bertram.
The New Room opens for the day. Photo © Mike Reed.
Entrance to the New Room chapel. Photo
Lyn Dafis.
The chapel, with double pulpit. Photo © Mike Reed.
Another view of the chapel. Photo
Lyn Dafis.
Plain benches used by Wesley's congregation. Photo
Lyn Dafis.Wesley's New Room in Bristol is the oldest Methodist chapel in the world, established by John Wesley himself in 1739. It still looks much like John Wesley left it, and includes a variety of furnishings and items associated with both Wesley brothers and other Methodist preachers.
History
John Wesley arrived in Bristol in 1739 after George Whitefield asked him to take over his work of preaching to the open air crowds he had gathered. Wesley preached his first open air sermon in this country on April 2, 1739 in a Brickfield in St. Philip's Marsh, and later preached at Hanham Mount and several other places.
On May 9, 1739, John Wesley bought land and on May 12 laid the foundation stone for what he called "our New Room in the Horsefair." It is was the first Methodist building in the world. In 1748 the building was enlarged and to some extent reconstructed. Wesley's London base, now known as Wesley's Chapel, was built in 1778.
What to See
The New Room overlooks several courtyards that contain an equestrian statue of John Wesley (by A. G. Walker, 1932) and a statue of his brother Charles Wesley, the famous hymn-writer (by B. Hitch, 1939).
In the Broadmead courtyard is the grave of Captain Thomas Webb and his wife, reburied here when Portland Chapel was closed in 1972. The Horsefair Courtyard has a copper plate, probably placed by John Wesley, containing texts about giving to the poor.
Inside is a simple chapel, filled with rows of pews and benches. Large galleries along both sides provide more seating.
On an elevated platform at the front is John Wesley's double pulpit. The upper part was used for the sermon and the lower part for the rest of the service. The present upper part is a replica, but the lower part and the communion table were used by Wesley. Above the pulpit is a hidden upstairs window, from which Wesley observed the progress of his student preachers.
The upper floor has lodgings used by John and Charles Wesley and other traveling preachers. In the Common Room, the Methodist preachers talked and ate together, using the plain table and benches you can see today. Here also is the window through which Wesley could watch his preachers in the pulpit.
The grandfather clock in the Common Room probably dates from 1670 and was bought by Samuel Wesley, John's father, in 1710 to replace a clock destroyed by the fire at Epworth Rectory, from which John at the age of five was rescued, " a brand plucked out of the burning".
The cupboards house part of the Library, a collection begun from the earliest days of the New Room. It includes 1,200 documents about Methodism before 1900.
The doors round the Common Room lead to study bedrooms for the preachers. John Wesley came to Bristol every year from 1739 to 1790 and spent nearly 1,500 nights in the "John Wesley Rooms," probably more than he spent in any other place during his travels in that period.
These rooms include a large collection of Wesley relics: a bed he used, the sloping window ledge on which he wrote, some of his letters, his study chair, the chair from which at Winchelsea in 1790 he preached for the last time in the open air, a portrait by Renton, the Enoch Wood bust, a lithograph of the Hitt portrait, and a first edition of his Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament.
Charles stayed in the "Charles Wesley Rooms" occassionally from 1748 to 1749. After his marriage to Sarah Gwynne, he lived at 4 Charles Street, which has a commemorative plaque.
The Francis Asbury Rooms contain many items connected with America. Asbury volunteered at the Conference here in 1771 for missionary service in America, where he became a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and one of its most famous evangelists - "the St. Paul of American Methodism".
Artifacts in here include a picture of Asbury at prayer, a signed copy of the picture "Offer them Christ" by the modern American artist, Kenneth Wyatt, showing Coke, Whatcoat and Vasey sailing from Pill to America after the ordinations of 1784, and the No. 3 Cokesbury Bicentennial Bell, one of 1,984 such bells cast for the bicentennial of American Methodism.
Quick Facts
| Names: | The New Room; Wesley's New Room; John Wesley's Chapel |
| Type of site: | Church |
| Faith: | Methodist |
| Status: | Active |
| Date: | 1739 |
| Architecture: | Georgian |
| Location: | Horsefair, Bristol, England |
| Phone: | 0117/926 4740 |
| Website: | http://www.newroombristol.org.uk/ |
| Hours: | Mon-Sat 10-4 |
| Cost: | Free |
| Services: | Sunday services only in summer; short communion service every Friday 1:00-1:15pm throughout the year |
Location Map
Below is a location map and aerial view of Wesley's New Room. Using the buttons on the left, zoom in for a closer look or zoom out to get your bearings. Click and drag the map to move around. For a larger view, see our Bristol Map or get our free Google Earth download.
Sources
- The New Room Bristol - official website
- The Rough Guide to England 7 (May 2006), 388.
