London - Wesley's Chapel, City Road - Foundery Chapel - Pitkin postcard c.1970s

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Wesley's Chapel is a Methodist church in London that was built by 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.

The chapel opened in 1778 to replace John Wesley's earlier London chapel, the Foundery,^[1] where he first preached on 11 November 1739.^[2] 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.

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 439.^[3]

The building has Grade I listed status and is a fine example of Georgian architecture^[4] 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.^[1]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.^[5]The communion rail was a gift from former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,^[6] who was married in the chapel in 1951.^[7]

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. The house is a well-preserved example of a middle-class eighteenth-century home. It is Grade I listed, and was Wesley's residence for the last eleven years of his life. He is commemorated by a blue plaque on the City Road frontage.

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.^[8] A statue of Wesley with the inscription "the world is my parish" stands at the entrance to the courtyard.

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.

John Wesley's House was built in 1779 at the same time as the chapel.^[9] This building is a rare example of an early Georgian Townhouse and is a Grade I listed building. Built by Wesley and designed by George Dance the younger (who was 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 lying in bed in his bedroom. The house was also used to house traveling preachers and their families as well as small group of servants. The house continued to be used for traveling preachers after Wesley's death until it was turned into a museum in the 1900s.