John Wesley's New Room is a historic building located between The Horsefair and

Broadmead Broadmead is a street in Bristol city centre in England, which has given its name to the principal shopping district of the city. It is part of Bristol Shopping Quarter. History The name of the street was first recorded in 1383 as ''Brodem ...

, Bristol, England. Opened in June 1739, it housed the earliest

Methodist societies The organisation of the Methodist Church of Great Britain is based on the principle of connexionalism. This means that Methodist Church of Great Britain, British Methodism, from its inception under John Wesley (1703–1791), has always laid stron ...

, and was enlarged in 1748. As the oldest purpose-built

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

preaching house (chapel), it has been designated by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. A Methodist museum is housed in the preachers' rooms above the chapel. The courtyards around the building contain statues of

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

and his brother

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

History and architecture

On 2 April 1739 John Wesley began preaching in the open fields at Bristol, and founded societies there. Under Wesley's direction, the building followed two months later, making it the oldest purpose-built Methodist chapel in the world. He called it "our New Room in the Horsefair". The chapel was built with a double-decker

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

, which was common at the time, and is lighted by an octagonal lantern window to reduce the amount paid in

window tax Window tax was a property tax based on the number of windows in a house. It was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, Scotland, France and Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries. To avoid the tax, some houses fr ...

. In addition to meetings and worship, the New Room was used as a dispensary and schoolroom for the poor people of the area. The pews and benches were made from old ship timber. The Baldwin and Nicholas Street Methodist societies combined to form the United Society, which met at the New Room from 3 June 1739. Wesley insisted that meetings at the New Room should only be held outside of

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church hours as he wanted Methodism to complement rather than compete with Anglican worship. New Room

In 1748 it was extended, possibly by the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

architect George Tully in view of the stylistic similarities with the Friends' Meeting House at

Quakers Friars Quakers Friars () is a Grade 1 Listed building in Broadmead, Bristol. Part of the former Blackfriars, Bristol, Blackfriars Priory site, it was used as a Friends Meeting House, Quaker meeting house for nearly three hundred years, more recently se ...

of the same period. John Wesley believed that

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

worship should be carried out in churches, and only reluctantly allowed the enlarged New Room to comply with the

Toleration Act 1688 The Toleration Act 1688 ( 1 Will. & Mar. c. 18), also referred to as the Act of Toleration or the Toleration Act 1689, was an act of the Parliament of England. Passed in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, it received royal assent on 24 ...

, making it a formal place of worship. Rooms were built above the chapel, in which Wesley and other

itinerant preacher An itinerant preacher (also known as an itinerant minister) is a Christian evangelist who preaches the basic Christian redemption message while traveling around to different groups of people within a relatively short period of time. The usage of ...

s stayed. Wesley lived at the New Room from 1748 to 1771 and administered Holy Communion there when his brother

was away. Wesley added to the Methodist offer in Bristol by selling his published works from a bookstore in the New Room. Analysis of the complete printed output of Bristol between 1695 and 1775 shows that over half was written by Methodists. Wesley published a medical handbook, ''Primitive Physick''; the New Room housed one of Bristol's first medical

dispensaries A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispense ...

. After Wesley's death, in 1808 the property passed into the hands of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. In 1929 it was bought back by the Wesleyan Methodist Church. The

John Snetzler John Snetzler (or Schnetzler) was an organ builder of Swiss origin, who worked mostly in England. Born in Schaffhausen in 1710, he trained with the firm of Egedacher in Passau and came to London about 1741. When he retired in 1781, his business ...

Chamber Organ of 1761 is a 20th-century addition following the restoration of the building in 1929 by Sir George Oatley. A garden in the Broadmead Courtyard was opened on 24 May 2011 by the Lord Mayor of Bristol. This was followed by the opening of the Horsefair Visitor Centre on 13 July 2017 by

the Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester ( ) is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curre ...

. The new facilities include a café, library and archive and conference and education facilities, plus an expanded interactive museum housed in the twelve upstairs rooms of the 1748 building. As the oldest purpose-built Methodist building in the world it has become a centre of international

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

References

External links

*
The New Room (John Wesley's Chapel)
– Methodist Heritage {{Culture in Bristol Churches completed in 1739 New Room Museums in Bristol Religious museums in England Biographical museums in Bristol Chapels in England History of Methodism 1739 establishments in England 18th-century Methodist church buildings 18th-century churches in the United Kingdom

History and architecture

See also

References

External links