WESLEY'S CHAPEL, CITY ROAD

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: N/M/041-1
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, CITY ROAD
Date(s)	: 1824-1957
Level of description	: Collection View parent record
Extent	: 3.15 linear metres
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.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Circuit Records: minutes of quarterly meetings for the City Road Circuit/Wesley's Chapel Circuit, 1853-1925; Local Preachers' minute book, First London Circuit, City Road, 1839-1921; Stewards' accounts, 1843-1921; Circuit schedules for London North Circuit, 1824-1864; Circuit schedules for City Road Circuit, 1864-1902; Circuit schedules for Wesley's Chapel Circuit, 1902-1919; statistical summary of chapel and other trust property in First London Circuit, later City Road Circuit, 1856-1875 and report on schools in the City Road Circuit, 1871.

Trustees Records: Trustees minute book, 1902-1912; Trust accounts, 1893-1902 and Trustees' Treasurer's account books, 1907-1923.

Church Society Records: Leaders' Meeting minute book, 1895-1933; Wesley Guild minute book, 1897-1932; Wesley's House Committee minute book, 1898-1902; Missionary Society) minute book, 1821-1839; Young Men's Institute minute book, 1927-1933; Wesley's Chapel accounts, 1923-1936; Collections, 1810-1838; Class book, men, 1808-1827; Class book, women, 1808-1827; Leaders' book: Sisters, 1827-1850; scrapbook concerning the dedication of Wesley's House, 1898.

Sunday School Records: General Meeting minute book, 1798-1810; Sunday School Committee minute book, 1798-1802; Sunday School Society Memoir Book [reports on visits to sick children], 1813-1819; Milton Street Chapel, trustees minute book, 1840-1844.

Also Circuit Stewards's account book, 1927-1953; Circuit Officer's account book for Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, 1922-1957; Church registers, [1930-1960]; Circuit schedules, 1930-1957; correspondence relating to restoration, furnishings and building works at Wesley's Chapel, 1890-1891; general letters, reports and so on, 1885-1910; specifications relating to the new organ, 1890-1891; letters from trustees relating to the chapel keeper and Centenary Memorial Fund, Wesley's Chapel, 1890-1891; correspondence relating to the Centenary Memorial Fund, 1890-1891; letters relating to Wesley's House, City Road, 1891; City Road Chapel, class leaders' books, 1906-1913; general correspondence relating to Jewin Street Chapel, Hackney Road Chapel, the Leysian Mission, Chequer Alley Chapel, Angel Alley Chapel and Fellows Street School.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

N/M/041/1-17: Circuit Records; N/M/041/18-21: Trustees; N/M/041/22-53: Church Societies and Finance; N/M/041/54-58: Sunday School; N/M/041/59-82: Administration and Correspondence.

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 in 1977 (AC/77/058 and AC/77/067).

Allied Materials

Related material:

For other records of Wesley's Chapel, see LMA/4197. For the City Road Circuit see N/M/015-018. For Jewin Street Chapel see ACC/2330. For Hackney Road Chapel see N/M/023. For the Leysian Mission see ACC/2745 and ACC/3422. For the Chequer Alley Chapel see ACC/2330 and N/M/016. For Angel Alley Chapel see ACC/2330, ACC/2997 and N/M/015.

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