WESLEY'S CHAPEL

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: LMA/4197
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: WESLEY'S CHAPEL
Date(s)	: 1848-1997
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 3.66 linear meters
Name of creator(s)	: Methodist Church of Great Britain x United Methodist Church x Wesleyan Methodist Church x Primitive Methodist Church

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Shortly after the foundation of Methodism by John Wesley, he concluded that he needed a permanent base from which to preach and convert. He founded a chapel to the east of the City of London, but this soon fell in to disrepair. In 1778 he built a new and more permanent chapel on the City Road, which still stands today. Wesley's Chapel has been altered in some ways but was restored after a major fund raising campaign in the 1970s, and re-opened in 1978 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Wesley's House was built by Wesley in 1779. It was Wesley's winter home and also provided a home for the preachers of the Chapel, their families and servants. The house is now open to visitors and contains many of John Wesley's belongings and furniture, including his electrical machine, his study chair and his small Prayer Room.

The Museum of Methodism was opened in 1984 in the Crypt of Wesley's Chapel. It tells the history of Methodism from John Wesley to the present day.

Epworth Hall is located in Helston, Cornwall. It was constructed in 1798 as a Wesleyan Methodist meeting hall and was named 'Epworth' after Wesley's birthplace in Lincolnshire.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Wesley's Chapel, City Road, including visitor's books for Wesley's House, 1948-1997; visitor's books, Wesley's Chapel, 1928-1995; visitor's books, Museum of Methodism, 1984-1995; plan of City Road Chapel site; minutes of Wesley's Chapel Circuit local preachers meetings, 1922-1969; Annual Society minute books, 1959-1978; trust schedules, 1876-1914; correspondence, 1951-1969; notes on listed building status, 1973-1976; booklets about Wesley's Chapel, mainly regarding the restoration works, 1976-1986; ticket for meeting of the Wesleyan Tract Society, 1868; flyers, posters and programmes regarding Chapel events, 1899-1985; file of publications of the Methodist Historical Society, 1917-1985; papers regarding Epworth Hall Chapel, 1889-1966; papers regarding the Museum of Methodist History, 1849-1986 and papers regarding restoration work funds, 1908-1980.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

In sections: Visitors Books; Plans; Chapel Administration; Chapel Publications; Artefacts; Events; Printed Items; Restoration.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright: Depositor

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Received 1998 (B98/096).

Allied Materials

Related material:

See also ACC/2330 and N/M/044 for records of the City Road Methodist Circuit; ACC/2745 and ACC/3422 for records of the Leysian Mission; ACC/2330 and N/M/041 for more records of Wesley's Chapel; and SC/PHL/02 for photographs of Wesley's Chapel.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
January to March 2009